After a year of careful planning, the motorway bridge was finally erased from the landscape in under 12 hours – some six hours ahead of schedule.

A fascinating time lapse video has now been released which reveals the work involved in demolishing the bridge including the moment the structure came crashing down.

The M6 was shut in both directions, between junctions 13 and 14 at Stafford, to carry out the complex demolition of the Burton Bank footbridge, which weighed some 140 tonnes and contained enough concrete to fill 20 tipper trucks.

The arched bridge, north of junction 13, had to be removed to make way for Highways England’s major upgrade of the M6 through Staffordshire.

Built in the early 1960s, the curved shape of the footbridge meant there would not be enough headroom for HGVs to travel underneath when the hard shoulder also becomes a new running lane.

The time lapse video, filmed by contractors Kier who are carrying out the work on behalf of Highways England, encapsulates the demolition process that took place throughout the night.

Lane closures began at 5pm last Saturday with the M6 completely shut from around 8pm as more than 50 workers descended on the motorway to carry out the demolition.

The bridge was brought down shortly before midnight and the mammoth clean-up began. The M6 was reopened in both directions by 7.30am on Sunday.