Tees Newport Bridge

The Newport Bridge carries the A1032 across the River Tees from Hemlington to Middlesbrough. It is a very interesting and indeed rare bridge for the British Isles, in that when it was operational the whole road deck lifted vertically 100 feet in one section. However, with the decline of shipping using the Tees, the bridge was sealed in a fixed position in 1990, making it now a rather strange looking structure where the purpose of the lifting mechanism is redundant.

The bridge itself carries 4 lanes of traffic, 2 in each direction, and provides a link between the A19 and A66. However, as the former crosses the Tees a little further upstream to reach the latter, even this aspect of the Newport Bridge is virtually redundant. In many ways it seems to have been left behind by the modern era, and like the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge a little downstream remains more as a curiosity than a necessary link in the Teeside transport network.

History

The bridge took 3 years to build, being officially opened on 28 February 1934 by the Duke of York. At the time it was the largest vertical-lift bridge in the world. It was also the first to be built in Britain.

Three electric motors were used to lift the 300 foot roadway span by 100 feet between the steel towers in 19 seconds. Contractor was Dorman Long and Co. Ltd., cost £512,000. At its peak, it was letting up to 800 ships through every week, but as noted above a mere 50 years later the Tees shipping traffic had reduced to the point where the bridge could be permanently shut to tall ships.