(1,1) -1- Tees bridges web version.indd 12/08/2011 15:43:58 Bridges over the Tees 1. Transporter Bridge This leafl et provides an insight into the unusual, impressive and noteworthy structures across the River Tees. d R ll i Po H rt n C rto l ve ar Ha ence RIVER TEES Rd Riverside Park Today the River Tees is a port of some importance but this A1046 Industrial Estate Bridges over the Tees A178 F 1 l was not always so. Originally, it offered few, if any, natural ee t B rid Middlesbrough ge advantages. As the Tees is set in a low lying landscape, a Rd Durham St Transporter Bridge B1425 Bridge St W Visitor Centre A19 number of unusual bridges had to be built to overcome the A1032 1 confl ict between land and water-based transport. A66 Marton Rd A172 A66 PortrackNorth Ln Tees 2 Middlesbrough 3 A 10 Industrial Estate 32 Newport Rd A 13 0 5 A1046 M a A19 r i t i m Stockton-on-Tees Teesside e B6541 R University d 4 Ayresome St Rd Linthorpe 7 5 6 Rd ton ock St Teesdale Business Park d h R oug A1032 b r A19 les d d i M 8 d Teesside R Shopping Park m Thor a l A 9 c ck k A d la m R 10 Rd m r Lanehouse Rd a n B1425 Y a b y A1130 R A66 d 2. Newport Bridge 6. Infinity Bridge Thornaby A1032 A135 A1045 A19 Rd 11 m r 8. Victoria Bridge Ya A135 12. Yarm Viaduct 12 1 Transporter Bridge 5 Tees Barrage Bridge 9 Tees Rail Bridge 2 Newport Bridge 6 Infi nity Bridge 10 A66 Surtees Bridge Teesside’s unusual, unique and 3 Billingham Branch Bridge 7 Princess of Wales Bridge 11 Jubilee Bridge Yarm 4 A19 Tees Viaduct 8 Victoria Bridge 12 Yarm Masonry Bridge historic bridges & Yarm Viaduct Sites and locations to visit (2,1) -1- Tees bridges web version.indd 12/08/2011 15:43:58 2 Newport Vertical Lift Bridge, 1934 5 Tees Barrage Bridge, 1995 1 Transporter Bridge, 1911 Built by Dorman Long & Co Ltd, the bridge provided 36.6m Constructed by Tarmac Construction Ltd between 1991 and headroom and 76.2m clear width of water when raised. The 1995 at a cost of £50m, the barrage was built to maintain a machinery for raising and lowering the bridge was located at the raised water level upstream as far as High Worsall. The bridge Opened on 17th October 1911, the Transporter Bridge at centre of the 2,876 tonnes lifting span. The decline in shipping which passes over the top of the barrage is supported on the Middlesbrough is one of eight survivors of similar bridges built eventually led to the lifting span being fi xed down in 1990, giving a concrete piers of the barrage. It has four 17.5m arches with between 1893 and 1916. Prior to the age of the motor car, clearance of 6.4m above high water. Although the bridge looks the two identical 17.5m arches on either side. These arches have a it represented a valid solution to the problem of providing same, it is no longer capable of opening. rise of 5m to give suffi cient clearance to the navigation channel. headroom of 48.8m and a clear span of 174m to accommodate Some 350 tonnes of high strength steel were used for the the sailing ships using the river. Designed by G.C. Imbault of 3 Billingham Branch Bridge, 1934 tubular members together with 280 tonnes of plates and cast Cleveland Bridge Engineering Company, Darlington, it was built steel. by Sir William Arrol and Company Ltd of Glasgow. Built as part of the northern approach road to Newport The fabricator was Westbury Tubular Structures Ltd of Wetherby, Vehicles and foot passengers are carried by means of a gondola Bridge, this was the fi rst all- although the smaller cast steel rings were made at the Blackett suspended from an upper carriage that runs on rails attached welded portal frame bridge Hutton Foundry in Guisborough. The barrage was built by to the underside of the structure. It remains the largest of the in the world. It has a central diverting the river to enable the foundations to be constructed transporter bridges operating worldwide and provides a valuable span of 19.6m with 14.6m and directly on boulder clay of high bearing capacity that was found public transport service crossing the river in two minutes. 8.5m spans on each side. When it was built electric arc welding to exist at this point. was a new process and it was not generally used for fabrication of The Transporter Bridge has become a structural members until twenty years later. The main priority of the symbol representing the areas’ past barrage is to control engineering achievements. It is a fi ne the fl ow of the river, sight when illuminated and on a clear 4 A19 Tees Viaduct, 1975 protect the surrounding winter’s night it can be seen from up areas from fl ooding, to eight km away. Due to its historical This major crossing has an overall length and prevent any other importance, in 1985, it was designated of 2.9km with 68 spans of varying effects of tidal change. as a Grade II* Listed Building. construction. The section over the Tees has This steady control means the water above the barrage is nine spans of varying length; the longest permanently held at high tide, making the river here perfect for a being the 117m river span. The reinforced e Although the volume of use is declining, the bridge is becoming number of activities and events, such as canoeing, jet skiing, and concrete deck acts compositely with the a tourist attraction for extreme sports events such as bungee dragon boat racing. The barrage also incorporates a 1km rowing welded steel plate girders having a maximum depth of 4.88m at the jumping and abseiling. dge supporting piers. The clearance over the river is 20.73m. course. (1,1) -2- Tees bridges web version.indd 12/08/2011 15:44:29 7 Princess of Wales Bridge, 1992 The bridge was opened on 23rd September 1992 to give access to the reclaimed industrial area of Thornaby. It was built by Tarmac Construction Ltd at a cost of £3m. It has a central span of 40m and two side spans of 30m which are continuous over the piers. The four steel plate girders are composite with the reinforced concrete deck. Steel ‘H’ piles were driven down 6 Infi nity Bridge, 2009 to the sandstone bedrock to support the abutments and piers. 9 Tees Rail Bridges, 1830,1844, 1882, 1906 & 2008 10 The footbridge over the River Tees, built at a cost of £15m, was On 23rd May 1828, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 14th May 2009 and named the Infi nity Bridge on company obtained Parliamentary powers to build a branch line account of its shape when refl ected in the river which resembles to Middlesbrough. To enable the railway to cross the Tees just the mathematical symbol for infi nity. The design, by Expedition upstream of Stockton, a suspension bridge spanning the full Engineering and architect Spence Associates, was chosen from width of the river was built. Unfortunately, when tested, it failed the entrants for a Royal Institute of British Architects design to carry loaded coal wagons and had to be propped. competition in 2003. Constructed by Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering with steel fabricator Cleveland Bridge & Engineering The bridge, built by Sir Samuel Co and project managed by White Young Green, the bridge was Brown, at a cost of £2,300 was commissioned by Stockton Borough Council. It is intended to opened on 27th December 1830. To provide a pedestrian and cycle access to aid the development of 8 Victoria Bridge, 1887 commemorate the opening of the a 28 hectare site on the north bank of the River Tees facilitating world’s fi rst railway suspension bridge, the expansion of the University of Durham’s Stockton campus. a medal was struck. The elegant Victoria Bridge, built between 1882 and 1887, The bridge consists of two asymmetrical tied arches, measuring replaced an old masonry arch bridge built in 1769. It has three In 1844, the suspension bridge was replaced by a fi ve span 120m and 60m. The highest point of the arch is 40m above the parabolic arches each consisting of eight ribs of wrought iron, bridge with cast iron girders designed by Robert Stephenson. In River Tees. The arches are of welded tapered steel box sections the centre arch has a span of 33.5m and two side arches spans order to add a further two tracks, a wrought iron plate girder with the 4m wide deck made from precast concrete segments of 25.9m. Designed by Harrison Haytor and Charles Neate bridge was built alongside in 1882. post-tensioned together by horizontal high strength steel cables and built by Whitaker Brothers of Leeds, it was funded by local that also tie the feet of each arch together. councils with contributions from the Tramway Company, North In 1906, the cast iron girders of the Stephenson Bridge were Eastern Railway and the Water Board. removed and girders of mild steel were erected in their place. 11 In 2009, the bridge was The new girders were supported on the original masonry piers of awarded the Institution of Civil The bridge was formally opened on 20th June 1887 and was the Stephenson Bridge and it is still in use today.