There are many Millennium bridges, large and small, up and down the country, displaying many fine features. But pride of place must surely go to the two "big boys" - Gateshead and London. The history of the London bridge has been dogged with disaster, which leaves the £22 million Gateshead bridge, with its unique opening mechanism, as the front runner in the hall of fame. The bridge was opened on 17 September 2001.
There is no shortage of websites recording and describing this amazing piece of engineering. The best sets of images are to be found in the Graeme Peacock site and in the Free Foto site (together with adjacent web pages). The best site for factual information is the Gateshead Borough site which also includes a timetable for times of the bridge opening. More detailed information about the bridge construction is given in an article in Architecture Week . Other good sites are those posted by Frank Gillings, which includes a video clip of the giant crane, by Ray Urwin and by the Viewfinder.
Of
course, the really distinctive feature of the bridge - which has both restricted
and inspired the design is that it should open to let river traffic pass
through. The bridge is open a few times a week, although it has to be said that
little of the traffic appears to be the commercial traffic of Tyne port. The
only occasions on which I have seen it open are to let a pleasure boat (a boozy
night out for the lads, or maybe a hen night) cruise through only to turn round
and sail straight back out again down-river. Photographs of the bridge
opening are included in a separate gallery.
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