Cross Keys Bridge is a swing bridge that carries the busy single carriageway A17 road which runs from Newark in Nottinghamshire to King's Lynn in Norfolk over the tidal River Nene in Sutton Bridge in the extreme south east of Lincolnshire close to the borders of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and is a major landmark on the route particularly for holiday traffic heading into and out of Norfolk during the summer months.
It is the only crossing point for both traffic and pedestrians over the river north of the Cambridgeshire town of Wisbech some nine miles to the south of the bridge and provides the only direct link between Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
When it was built in 1897, it was the third bridge to cross the Nene in Sutton Bridge. It was originally a dual-purpose bridge serving the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway on what is now the westbound carriageway and the road was on the eastbound side. The railway line was closed in 1965 and the bridge took on its present-day use as a road bridge with one single lane for eastbound traffic and a single lane for westbound traffic. It is a Grade II* listed structure.[1]