A NEW TYNE BRIDGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19762, 8 October 1927, Page 15

A NEW TYNE BRIDGE.

I|g|l» i ' in WORK TO COST £500,099. COMPLETION NEXT YEAR. SIXTH HIGHWAY ACROSS RIVER, • f Steady progress is being mads with the building of a bridge across the Tyne at Newcastle to provide for the greatly increased volume of load traffic. The sinking of the foundations was begun in July, .1925, and the structure is not expected to be completed before the summer of next year. The foundations are 70it. below highwator mark of the river, and consist of four main caissons, each 84ffc. 6in. deep and 28ffc. wide, filled with cement to the surface. When the structure is completed its length will be made up by an approach 190 ft. long and a steelwork approach of 483 ft on the Newcastle side, and a steelwork approach of 330 ft., and a masonry approach of 259 ft. on the Gateshead side. The main arch across the river will have a span of 531 ft. The, total length of the bridge will be 1843 ft. The width of the bridge from one handrail to the other will be 65ft. The height from the high-water mark to the underside of the roadway will be 89ft., an<t from the top of the arch to low water 208 ft. The contractors are Messrs. Dorman, Long and Company, of Middlesbrough, and the work will cost over £500,000. This will make the sixth bridge connecting the Northumberland and Durham sides of the river at Newcastle. The high level bridge, one of Robert Stephenson 8 famous undertakings, was opened by Queen Victoria in 184S, and in 1906 King Edward VII. opened the adjacent bridge and gave it his name.