Pont y Werin was an innovative proposal for a 140 metre bridge to enable pedestrians and cyclists to cross the River Ely between Penarth and the International Sports Village at Cardiff Bay. 
The bridge was proposed to open to allow the passage of river traffic and  would also link up to a future cycle route through to Barry and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The charity Sustrans, secured a £1.15 million grant towards the scheme in the Big Lottery Fund's: The people's £50Million contest in December 2007 following a nationwide phone poll. Cardiff Council committed a further £1.3 million to the project and £200,000 was set aside by the Vale of Glamorgan Council with a further £250,000 coming from Cardiff Harbour Authority. However, this still left a shortfall in the total project cost of £1.6 million and there were worries that, despite overwhelming public support , the future of the bridge could be at risk. However, the Welsh Assembly Government eventually committed the £1.6 million pound needed to complete the project to put the full funding for the bridge in place.

Without the bridge, there was no practical means of pedestrian or cyclist access from Penarth to the Sports Village and the very worrying situation in which people, including young children,  illegally walked or cycled along the narrow strip alongside the main road link crossing the river was continuing, with potentially fatal consequences.

Work on the bridge construction had to wait on the finalising of agreements between Cardiff and the Vale councils regarding the building processes. But eventually, in July 2009, Dean & Dyball Civil Engineering, a division of Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering, was awarded a £3.4 million contract by Cardiff Council for the design and construction of the  bridge.

The bridge was finally opened to the public on Wednesday 14th July 2010.