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A challenging project to replace a 19th century swing bridge
with a brand new 21st century design has won a top honour. The A161 swing bridge
replacement over the Dutch River in Goole has won the prestigious award from the
Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Yorkshire & Humber Region.
There was strong competition for the regions top award. A total of
16 projects had entered for the 2007 award including a tidal defence initiative,
a ground-breaking new hospital and the redevelopment and regeneration of a
brown-field site.
The award recognises and encourages excellence and innovative
concepts in civil engineering practice. Bennett Associates was involved in the
design of the new swing bridge alongside other key consultants including Cass
Hayward, Pell Frischmann, Birse Civils and Mason Clark Associates.The bridge
fabricator was Butterley Ltd, who had previously worked with Bennett Associates
on the award-winning Falkirk Wheel boat lift.
Over the last 30 years, the Victorian bridge had required
increasing expenditure by the former Humberside County Council and its
successor, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC), in order to keep it
operating satisfactorily, but this had not solved problems caused by the
narrowness of the carriageway and footway and the possible need to impose weight
restrictions because of its structural condition.
Around 8000 vehicles and up to 1000 pedestrians and cyclists crossed the old
bridge each day. The 4.4 metre carriageway width required traffic light control,
causing congestion and long delays at peak times, while the footpaths were only
1.5 metres wide.
The design solution accepted by ERYC consisted of a swing bridge
with a moveable span measuring 45 metres long x 14 metres wide – one of the
biggest to be built in the UK in recent years. A fixed approach pier on the
south side, 12 metres in length, aligns with the nose of the moving section, and
there is a shorter fixed pier on the north side. Unlike the Victorian bridge it
has replaced, which had a central pivot, the pivot on the new bridge is
positioned one-third of the distance from the tail, which has increased the
navigable passage when the bridge is open to shipping from 11.5 metres to 15.2
metres, despite the increased width of the bridge deck.
The regional ICE awards are judged by a panel of ICE members in
the region, including this year’s Chair Marian Hogg, a lecturer at the
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
April 2007
For further information, please contact John
Wadsworth at Bennett Associates on 01709 373782.
Related links:
 New
East Riding Bridge Swings into Action
Bridging
Gaps
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