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Continued...
ERYC also required the design of the bridge to minimise
whole-life costs, and any maintenance procedures had to cause as little
disruption as possible to traffic flows between the two parts of Goole. The
bridge is the only direct connection between Old Goole, the original settlement
on the south of the river, and the ‘new town' on the north.
The design solution accepted by ERYC consists 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 bridge spans are of all steel construction, with a steel plate
deck supported by cross girders spanning between two longitudinal main plate
girders. The main deck is further supported by cables on each side which pass
over towers positioned outside the main deck either side of the pivot point.
This design has allowed the depth of the structure to be reduced to just 1600mm,
including surfacing, in order to promote an elegant appearance and achieve as
great a distance as possible between the bridge, including the pivoting
mechanisms, and the river.
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