Queen Elizabeth Bridge (Aberdeen)
Queen Elizabeth Bridge | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
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From: | Aberdeen | ||
To: | Torry | ||
Location | |||
Aberdeen | |||
County | |||
Aberdeenshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Aberdeen | |||
Opening Date | |||
1831, 1984 | |||
On road(s) | |||
A956 | |||
Crossings related to the A956 | |||
For other Queen Elizabeth Bridges, see Queen Elizabeth Bridge.
Queen Elizabeth Bridge, also known as Wellington Bridge carries the A956 over the River Dee to the south of Aberdeen city centre. It was built in the early 1980s to replace the Wellington Suspension Bridge which sits a short distance upstream. It is a fairly typical 3-span concrete bridge of the period, with the two piers set in the river and supporting a very shallow arch concrete beam, with the two side spans being half arches, the deepest part being over the pier. It carries a full dual carriageway and pavements across the river.
Wellington Suspension Bridge
The old Suspension Bridge dates back to 1829 when works started, although it was partially reconstructed for its centenary. Although built by Captain Brown, there are many similarities with Thomas Telford's work on Suspension Bridges, notably the Menai Bridge built a few years earlier. As originally built, there is a single suspended span across the river, with the two towers set on either bank. The roadway is narrow, the arches in the towers perhaps only wide enough for single-file traffic, hence the need for the replacement.
On the north bank, a low arch passes over the A945, Riverside Drive. Originally this was a small, narrow arch, but in 1886 it was rebuilt to its current decorative design, allowing two-way traffic to squeeze through. It appears that this was the maximum width available for the arch, as the suspension chains pass through the spandrel of this arch, disappear into the roadway overhead midway across the arch.
Queen Elizabeth Bridge (Aberdeen) | ||
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