Within a distance of 2km are Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s magnificent 7, seven wonderful bridges spanning the river Tyne from Newcastle to Gateshead.
On foot, by car, bus, train or metro the bridges across this short stretch of river are examples of amazing construction and engineering from the spinning Swing to the tilting Millennium and not forgetting the arching of the Tyne, each bridge is unique and everyone has a favourite. What is yours?
Gateshead Millenium Bridge.
The foot and cycle bridge is the youngest of the famous seven, opened in 2001 and aptly named Gateshead Millennium Bridge, it takes 4.5 minutes to fully tilt open or close. The world’s first tilting bridge of it’s kind with length 126m, cost £22m and opened on 17th September 2001.
Tyne Bridge.
Opened by King George V on 28th October 1928 the green grade II listed Tyne Bridge with it’s imposing steel arch is the dominant symbol of Newcastle. It carries approximately 70,000 vehicles each day in it’s 4 lanes, is 389m in length and exceeded £1.2m in build cost.
Swing Bridge.
Another grade II listed structure, the Swing Bridge was the largest of it’s type at the time of construction in 1873. It can rotate a full 360 degrees and in it’s busiest year of operation swung over 6000 times in 1924 whereas today it is only required to open very occasionally. It cost £240,000 to build and is 171m long.
High Level Bridge.
The grade I double decked design of the High Level Bridge is of arch and suspension construction, the upper carrying the railway out of Central Station and the lower for bus and taxi use. Designed by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1849 it holds over 5000 tons of iron that sits upon the 26m high piers.
Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge.
Opened on 15 November 1981 by Queen Elizabeth II the steel truss metro bridge carries 2 rail tracks from a tunnel on one side of the Tyne river across a span of 353m only to disappear into another tunnel on the other side. Costing £4.9m it was purpose built for the Tyne & Wear Metro system as one of two major bridges, the Byker Viaduct being the other which crosses the Ouseburn Valley.
King Edward VII Bridge.
Another grade II listed bridge is the King Edward VII steel truss railway bridge of length 350m. Opened on 10 July 1906 costing over £500,000 it wasn’t used until 1 October 1906 by general traffic but greatly reduced congestion in the railway station especially as trains had to reverse out before this bridge was constructed!
Redheugh Bridge.
The pre-stressed concrete road bridge carrying the A189 is the final bridge of the super seven, opened in 1983 by the Princess of Wales. It’s length is 897m, 26m high and cost £15.35m. High winds are a problem for this bridge’s exposed sides, especially high-sided vehicles, hence why early in the bridge’s life a double-decker bus was almost blown off it!
@GeordieRascal