Scotswood Bridge

Scotswood Bridge crosses the River Tyne on the A695 west of Newcastle upon Tyne. This road runs from Hexham to Newcastle upon Tyne. It was opened to traffic on 20 March 1967 by Alderman Peter H. Renwick of Newcastle City Council. It had opened to pedestrians on 5 March 1967. Cost was £2,104,346. It replaced a 136 year old chain bridge which was in a precarious state and was inadequate for the free flow of traffic over the bridge and at the adjoining junctions. The new bridge was built 110 feet upstream from the old one, which was then demolished.

Detail

The new bridge was dual carriageway, with provision for extra lanes when required in the future. The complex of freeflow junctions at either end made for a smoother and swifter flow of traffic.

Pedestrians were also catered for with the 7 foot 6 inch footpaths on the bridge segregated from the traffic and also subways under the adjoining road interchanges.

History

A new bridge was included in the 1957 development plan of Newcastle Corporation. The plan was submitted to the Government and approved but the new bridge was only rated low priority by Whitehall. Newcastle City Council discussed the idea of building on the old bridge's foundations at a cost of £250,000. No grant was forthcoming for this. The Government put forward a high level bridge scheme but said it would be 20 years before the project would receive official sanction. The City Council had no objection to a high level bridge but did not want to wait 20 years for it.

However, the grant sanction came much earlier for a low level bridge and this was to be £1.5 million of the £2 million estimated cost. Work began, and in early March 1967 pedestrians could use the bridge, followed by a full opening on 20 March 1967.

In 1990 Newcastle did eventually get the high level bridge too - Blaydon Bridge on the Newcastle Western Bypass.

Personnel

Responsible for the project - W.H. Cotton, Engineer and Surveyor at Durham County Council and D.T. Bradshaw, City Engineer at Newcastle City Council. Consulting Engineers - Moot, Hay and Anderson. Main Contractor - Mitchell Construction Company, Peterborough.