Around the City: Bridges of River Tyne

Some bridges along the Quayside of Newcastle City Centre and Gateshead Quays. There are 22 main bridges that span the River Tyne. The first bridges were built by the Romans. The Pons Elii Bridge in Newcastle, the Stone Bridge at Corbridge and a bridge close to Chesters fort near Chollerford.

...the four bridges in the heart of city centre seem to outdo each other...

...the High Level Bridge was built in 1849. This bridge was opened to traffic in August 1849. Queen Victoria crossed it a month later, 28th September 1849.The bridge has a two-deck structure upper for Rail and the lower a roadway. The bridge is made up of six spans of 125-ft...

 

...the Hydraulic Swing Bridge. This bridge was completed and opened for road traffic without any ceremony on the 15th June 1876. The swinging portion was first used on the 17th July 1876 when the "Europa" of the Italian Navy, passed up to the Elswick Ordnance Works to take on board a gun weighing 100 tons for the Italian Government... 

...the famous Tyne Bridge is an iconic structure of Newcastle City. HM King George V accompanied by H.M Queen Mary on 10th October 1928 opened the Tyne Bridge. Mott, Hay and Anderson designed the bridge and the contractors were Dorman Long & Co., Ltd of Middlesborough. The bridge is almost identical to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, which was designed and built by Dorman Long & Co., Ltd. of Middlesborough, the same company built the Tyne Bridge.

The main span is 531ft, it has a clear headway over the river of 84ft, 2ft higher than the High Level Bridge. The Tyne Bridge cost £700,000 to build but recently it has just finished a makeover costing £1.8 million. The granite-faced towers were intended to be used as warehouses consisting of 5 floors but the floors were never completed...

...the newest bridge of Tyne River, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge was built in 1999. The £22million bridge was designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineers Gifford and Partners. Work first started on the bridge in May 1999. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is the first opening bridge to be built across the River Tyne for more than 100 years. It has become a link between Newcastle and Gateshead just west of the Baltic Flour Mill, the biggest contemporary gallery in Europe.

...another three main bridges just after High Level Bridge...

...the blue steel structure is Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, mainly for the Metro service, next bridge is King Edward Bridge for train service, and the concrete bridge after King Edward is Redheugh Bridge, which connects to A1/M1 highways...