Image caption The Churchill Way flyovers will be brought down in 25-metre sections

A "highly complex" demolition of two flyovers in Liverpool city centre, costing £6.75m, will begin next month.

The Churchill Way flyovers, which connect Lime Street to Dale Street and Tithebarn Street, will be brought down in 25-metre sections, Liverpool City Council said.

The two-lane highways were closed in September last year because they were found to be "structurally unsound".

A phased dismantling is expected to cause "significant" disruption.

Image caption Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said the work would cause a "huge amount of unavoidable disruption"

The council said at certain points during the works, which begin on 2 September, motorists will be advised only to drive into the city centre if absolutely necessary.

'Unavoidable disruption'

The first phase of the work will involve taking down three footbridges.

The work will then see:

The flyover dismantling phase runs from Friday evening until Sunday night on the weekends of 6-9 September, 20-23 September and 4-7 October

Queensway Tunnel will be shut to Liverpool-bound traffic between 19:00 BST on Friday to 06:00 on Monday (except buses and emergency vehicles)

Fontenoy Street will be closed from 2 September until 14 October

A section of Dale Street from Byrom Street to Crosshall Street will be shut between 4 and 14 October

Cuerden Street will be closed between 11 November to 20 December

Once the flyovers have been deconstructed alterations will be made around Hunter Street, Byrom Street and the Queensway Tunnel entrance, the council said.

'No choice'

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said the "complex process" of removing the flyovers was the only viable option.

He said: "We simply have no choice but to take them down as soon as possible.

"It cannot be done overnight and a lot of thought has gone into the methodology to ensure the inconvenience to city centre traffic and surrounding buildings is kept to a minimum - but people need to understand that this is going to cause a huge amount of unavoidable disruption."

Opened in 1970, the 240-metre long flyovers were built as part of a city centre inner ring road scheme that was later cancelled.

The demolition work is expected to be completed in December.