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The Humber Bridge England
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The Humber Bridge The humber Bridge, England

The Humber Bridge, which was completed in 1981, held the record for the longest span in the world. It's record wasn't broken until 1998 when the Storebelt and the East Bridge, Denmark was completed. The Humber Bridge is truly a work of art, with a main span length of 4,624 ft. The Humber Bridge still holds the record for the longest single span suspension bridge in the world.

Kingston upon Hull is home to a large Port. At the mouth of the River Humber and the River Hull it is one of Northern Englands Primary links with mainland Europe, with it's docks being one of the nations busiest for both vessels carrying freight and passenger ferries. The City of Kingston upon Hull has excellent road links with the major cities of Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool via the M62 motorway and as such is a much used and valued centre for distribution of goods into and from Europe.

The Map above highlights the economic need for a Bridge to be constructed across the River Humber. With no Bridge the docks on the Northern bank of the river serve little purpose for the inhabitants of Lincolnshire on the Southern bank. Industry and local businesses in towns such as Grimsby and Iimmingham, despite being only a few miles away from the docks, can make little use of the facilities (Imminghma does have it's own, smaller dock).

With no bridge the town of Immingham, only miles away as the crow flies, is suddenly a 60km drive away with drivers having to travel along the banks of the river to Goole before crossing the River and then driving back towards Hull.

A Bridge would open up a vast new market place, enable easier ovement of the workforce and revitalise the economy of both banks of the River.

 
The Humber Bridge England
The Humber Bridge History
The Humber Bridge

Approval for the construction of a suspension bridge was granted in 1959 with the passing of the Humber Bridge Act and the creation of the Humber Bridge Board, although it was not until 1973 that work finally began.

The reasons why a suspension bridge was chosen were twofold. Firstly the Humber has a shifting bed and navigable channel along which a craft can travel is always changing; a suspension bridge with no support piers in mid-stream would not obstruct the estuary. Secondly, because of the geology and topography of the area, the cost of constructing a tunnel would have been excessive.

Work on the construction proceeded for eight years, during which time many thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete were used and upwards of one thousand workers and staff were employed at times of peak activity.

The Freeman Fox & Partners resident engineers, John Hyatt and Douglas Strachan are introduced to the Queen, following the opening of the bridge
When traffic first crossed the bridge on 24th June 1981 many local dreams were fulfilled and similarly many people will have happy memories of the Bridge's official opening on 17th July 1981 when H.M. the Queen performed the formal opening ceremony.

The Bridge "opened up" both socially and economically, two previously remote and insular areas of England, improving communication enabling the area to realise its potential in commercial, industrial and tourist development.

The Bridge has saved many millions of vehicle miles and many valuable hours of drivers' and passengers' time - an important factor not only for the drivers and operators of commercial vehicles but also for tourists and holidaymakers who would have had to travel around the estuary to reach destinations in the region.

The Humber Bridge England
 
The Atomium Facts

The Humber Bridge is a suspension bridge with the north tower sited on the high water line and the south tower founded in shallow water 500m from the shore.
On the north bank, a hard well-jointed bed of chalk comes close to the surface and is covered by a tough layer of glacially deposited chalky boulder clay. The chalk has provided good foundations for both the anchorage and tower on this bank, on the south side, soft alluvium is underlain by beds of boulder clay, sand and gravel. Below these beds, at a depth of 30m, there is a deep bed of stiff, heavily fissured kimmeridge clay, on which the tower and anchorage have been founded. Designed to cross the last major unbridged estuary in Britain, the bridge comprises reinforced concrete towers aerial-spun catenary cables and a continuously-welded, closed - box road deck supported by inclined hanger cables.
The bridge is a masterpiece of civil engineering and was developed out of a design used initially for the Severn bridge near Bristol, England. Its design lifespan is 120 years.
The Consulting Engineers for the project were Freeman Fox & Partners

  • A ferry service existed in Roman times between Winteringham and Brough - the base of a military camp established in 70 AD by the Governor of Britain Petilius Cerialis.
  • Hull does not appear in the Domesday book, but there are 14th century records of a ferry across the Humber. In 1315 tolls were 1/2d for a man on foot, 1d for a man with his horse, 2d for a cart with two horses and 1d for each extra horse.
  • When the ferry operated across the Humber, 90,000 vehicles used it every year. More than 100,000 vehicles use the bridge each week.
  • Before the bridge was built, the ferry trip across the Humber took a minimum of 20 minutes dependant upon the weather and tide. Sometimes boats even got stuck on sandbanks.
  • The bridge is constantly moving. It bends more than three metres in the middle in winds of 80mph and the towers bend inwardly at the top.
  • A total of 480,000 tonnes of concrete were used to build the bridge.
  • The bridge boasts 80 acres of painted steelwork with 20 acres exposed to the elements.
  • The bridge towers are 36mm (1.4 inches) further apart at the top than the bottom to take account of the curvature of the earth.
  • The main cable contains 11,000 tonnes of steel wire - enough to stretch one and a half times around the world, a total of 43,000 miles.
  • The anticipated lifespan of the bridge is 120 years.
  • A Japanese container ship bears the name Humber Bridge.
  • The bridge has featured in several UK films and television programmes including Only Fools and Horses, The Beiderbecke Affair and Adrian Mole.
  • The bridge held the world record as the longest single span suspension bridge for 17 years
 
The Humber Bridge England
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The Humber Bridge England
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