High level bridge
Coordinates: 54 ° 58 ′ 1 ″ N , 1 ° 36 ′ 31 ″ W.
| High level bridge | ||
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| use | Road transport, railroad | |
| Crossing of | Tyne | |
| place | Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead | |
| construction | Tied arch bridge | |
| overall length | 407.8 m | |
| width | 12.2 m | |
| Longest span | 38.1 m | |
| opening | September 27, 1849 | |
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The High Level Bridge is a combined road and rail bridge over the Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead in North East England .
construction
The bridge was built to a design by Robert Stephenson between 1847 and 1849 and is the first major example of a wrought iron tied arch bridge . It is a permanent technical solution to a difficult problem: the crossing of a 408 m wide valley with a 156 m wide river in it. The High Level Bridge has six fields of 38.1 m in length, which rest on brick pillars with a cross-section of 14 × 4.9 m and a height of up to 40 m. The brick foreshore bridges on both sides each have four openings 11 m wide. The tramway and two footpaths occupy the lower deck of the bridge, 26 m above the high water mark, and the railway occupies the upper deck, 34 m above the high water mark. The total weight of the construction is 5,000 t.
A contemporary encyclopedia describes the bridge as follows:
- Each river opening is spanned by four curved cast iron ribs with horizontal ties . The roadway is located between two ribs that are about 6 m apart; and on each side of the carriageway there are footpaths in a space 2 m wide between the central and outer ribs. The upper railroad platform rests on the arches of the ribs, while the lower tramway is suspended from the ribs with wrought iron bars. Each of the curved ribs was cast in five pieces. In addition to the ties, the arches are stiffened by horizontal and vertical braces, while diagonal stiffeners are located in the gussets , i.e. the spaces between the arches and the beams that support the railroad. On the supports in the gussets lie lengthways beams from which others extend across the arches. The whole thing has such a completely rigid character and experience shows that it carries the heaviest loads without sagging.
history
The bridge was built for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway and, together with Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge in Berwick upon Tweed , closed one of the last gaps in the railway line from London to Edinburgh, now known as the East Coast Main Line . The bridge was opened to rail traffic on August 15, 1849 without any special ceremony. It was officially opened by Queen Victoria on September 27, 1849 , and opened to road vehicles and pedestrians on February 4, 1850.
The total cost of construction was £ 491,153 , broken down as follows: the actual bridge cost £ 243,096; this includes £ 112,000 for metalwork performed by Hawks, Crawshay & Co (and subcontractors). The foreshore bridges cost £ 113,057 and the purchase of land and compensation - including those for 650 families in Newcastle and 130 in Gateshead who had to be relocated - accounted for £ 135,000.
Stephenson's High Level Bridge was constructed later, but completed earlier, than his equally innovative Britannia Bridge (built 1846-1850) across Menai Street . It can be seen as a second and more elegant version of the Britannia Bridge and influenced Isambard Kingdom Brunel in his design of the Royal Albert Bridge (built 1855 to 1859) over the Tamar near Saltash .
In 1906 the construction of the King Edward VII Bridge , about 650 m west of the High Level Bridge, was completed. This eliminated the need for trains between London and Edinburgh to change direction in Newcastle. Since then, the High Level Bridge is no longer part of the East Coast Main Line. Instead it now serves the trains to Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Occasionally it is used by trains from London returning in the same direction as the two bridges on the Gateshead side are connected in a loop. For this reason, the western track is electrified over the bridge.
Redevelopment
To ensure the long-term future of the bridge, it was closed to traffic in February 2005. One of the most important maintenance work was the replacement of the wooden structure under the roadway. Although it was scheduled to reopen in late 2005, the bridge remained closed until June 2, 2008 when cracks were found in some of the iron girders. In March 2006, the footpath over the bridge, which was supposed to remain open during the renovation, was closed at the request of Network Rail due to vandalism and the increasing extent of the work required. Guard rails were installed on both sides of the carriageway, so that only one lane is available today. Today the road bridge is open again to buses and taxis going south (to Gateshead) and to pedestrians in both directions.
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Addyman and Bill Fawcett: The High Level Bridge and Newcastle Central Station - 150 years across the Tyne . Ed .: North Eastern Railway Association. 1999, ISBN 1-873513-28-3 .
- ^ A b Charles Matthew Norrie: Bridging the Years - a short history of British Civil Engineering . Edward Arnold, 1956.
- ↑ George Samuel Measom: The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern Railway . Griffin Bohn, London 1861.
- ↑ G. Long (Ed.): The penny cyclopædia . Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, 1863.
- ^ A b John Latimer: Local Records, or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events . 1857.
- ^ Paul James: First traffic in three years crosses bridge ( English ) The Journal. June 2, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
- ↑ Linda Richards: Bridge path set to close ( English ) ChronicleLive. February 9, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
- ^ New start for High Level Bridge ( English ) Newcastle City Council. November 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
Web links
- High Level: 150 years at Newcastle (English)
- Tyne Bridges (English)
- High level bridge. In: Structurae