Second Severn Bridge

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Coordinates: 51 ° 34'27 "  N , 2 ° 42'1"  W.

Second Severn Bridge
Second Severn Bridge
The bridge from the southeast
Convicted M4 motorway
Subjugated Mouth of the Severn
place at Severn Beach
construction Cable-stayed bridge, girder bridge
overall length 5,128 m
Longest span 456 m
Clear height 37 m
vehicles per day approx. 60,000
start of building 1992
opening June 5, 1996
location
Second Severn Bridge (England)
Second Severn Bridge

The Second Severn Crossing ( English Second Severn Crossing , Welsh Ail Groesfan Hafren ), in 2018 Prince of Wales Bridge renamed is a motorway bridge over the mouth of the Severn between Bristol , England , and Cardiff , Wales . It is about 6 km below the older Severn Bridge .

The bridge is a total of 5128 m long and has three lanes in each direction and a narrow hard shoulder. It consists of three parts: the middle cable-stayed bridge of 948 m in length is followed by girder bridges of 2077 m in length in the west and 2103 in length in the east.

The span of the cable-stayed bridge is 456 m. The remaining pillar spacing is usually around 98 m, so that there are 24 openings in the west and 25 openings in the east. The bridge is slightly s-shaped in plan. The height of the road increases towards the middle; there the clear passage height is 37 m. The pylons are H-shaped and 100 m higher than the lower edge of the bridge. The bridge crosses the South Wales Main Line , which runs here in a tunnel under the Severn.

Construction began in 1992 and took about four years. Except for the pylons, the bridge was built almost entirely from prefabricated parts that had been built on a 28.3 hectare construction site on the English side. They were brought to the installation site with caterpillars and a barge and lifted into the air by a floating crane.

The bridge was opened on June 5, 1996 by HRH Prince Charles as the Second Severn Crossing , Second Severn Bridge . On July 2, 2018, the bridge in the presence of the Prince of Wales, was Prince of Wales Bridge renamed. The renaming and the cost of installing signs bearing the new name of the bridge were accompanied by protests. Today it is used by around 60,000 vehicles every day. In December 2018, the toll for the bridge, which previously only existed in the direction of Wales, was lifted.

Individual evidence

  1. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-48405432 , accessed July 15, 2019
  2. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46539184 , accessed July 15, 2019

Web links

Commons : Second Severn Crossing  - collection of images, videos and audio files