Destructor Bridge (Bath)

Possibly the most obscure of Bath's road bridges, the former Destructor Bridge over the River Avon formed part of the unclassified Midland Road, joining the A4 near Royal Victoria Park with the A36 near its junction with the B3111, a short distance to the east of the much busier Windsor Bridge. It was only wide enough to accommodate a single lane of traffic, and so only operated southbound, although it was quite common for reckless locals to be seen dashing across the bridge in the wrong direction! Its main function was to take traffic away from the council's refuse amenity site at its northern end. Before the opening of the site there was a period of two-way signal-controlled working on the bridge.

It was an iron truss bridge dating back to the 1870s, and originally installed to provide road access to the Midland Railway's Bath terminus at Green Park Station. It was sold in 1905, when it was deemed unsuitable for Midland Railway purposes, and moved to its new location, joining the city's recycling yard to a giant incinerator across the river known as the "Destructor" - hence the unusual name.

It was closed to traffic in 2014 as part of the work surrounding the Western Riverside development on the south bank of the river, and for a while was used to store wooden pallets. It was removed completely in April 2015 and will be replaced by a modern two-way crossing with pedestrian and cycle access.

Links

• The Virtual Museum of Bath's article on the bridge
• Britannia Construction's Twitter feed, with photos of the demolition
• Twitter campaign to save the bridge