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THE
Construction of the Runcorn-Widnes railway bridge
started in 1868 when the first stone was laid on 12
April by Philip Whiteway. Whiteway was a
local shipbuilder, who was also a member of the Runcorn
Improvement Commissioners. This became the
first bridge to cross the River Mersey at this point.
The bridge was designed by William Baker, chief engineer
of the London & North Western Railway Company based
at Euston, London. The bridge was officially
opened on 21 May 1868 and open for railway traffic on 10
October the same year. The bridge was also used as a
passenger toll bridge as well, but this led to the
decline of ferry services. The next step in
crossing the river was with the Runcorn-Widnes
Transporter. It opened in 1905 on the 29 May to
replace a ferry crossing and to supplement the toll
footbridge that ran beside the railway bridge.
The high level design was chosen because the
Manchester Ship Canal, running alongside the River
Mersey at Runcorn, carried tall ocean-going ships, which
a low-level bridge would have obstructed. At the
time, the expense and engineering complexity of a
high-level road bridge were prohibitive, although the
high-level railway bridge was already now next to the
proposed site. The bridge was a magnificent
feat of Edwardian engineering. The span of
the bridge across the Mersey was 1000ft [305m]. The
bridge towers stood 190ft [58m] above high water,
30 ft. apart on each side with a 1,000 ft. span over the
river. Four cylinders each 9ft. in
diameter were braced under each tower. On the Widnes
side these were bolted into the solid bedrock, but on
the Runcorn side they were set 35ft. below the level of
the Manchester Ship Canal. The girders were
82ft. above the high water mark and were capable of
withstanding wind pressure of 56lbs per square inch.
The car was 55 ft. long and 25ft. wide and took 2.5
minutes to cross the river. It could carry 4 two-horse
drawn loaded wagons (equivalent to 12 vehicles) and 300
passengers. The total cost was £137,663,
about a third of the cost of an ordinary high level
bridge. However, the suspended car was very sensitive to
adverse weather, and would often be closed down in high
winds. Very little is now left to show
that the bridge ever existed. A
high-level road bridge was finally built. It was opened
by Princess Alexandra on 21 July 1961, and the
Transporter Bridge was closed the very next day. It was
scheduled for demolition almost immediately. The
road and rail bridges still stand today as you can see
above. The road bridge costing £3 million is
100ft (30m) higher than the railway bridge and had the
longest single arch span in Europe (the third longest in
the world). The road bridge was widened to four lanes
between 1975 and 1977 and renamed the Silver Jubilee
bridge. The approach roads on both sides were renamed
Queensway.
On 30
December 2002 the government decided that anouther
bridge should be built to cross the river Mersey at the
cost of £150m. The plan is to build another
road bridge alongside the Silver Jubilee bridge, to help
ease the traffic congestion. If it gets the go-ahead,
building could start by the end of 2004 and be completed
by 2007.
Photograph
taken
by Patrick Trollope BA(Hons) LBPPA in 2003 from the Air
looking West.
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