Humber Bridge: Difference between revisions
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| accessdate = 2007-02-14 }}</ref> and a website.<ref>[http://www.humbertollaction.org.uk Humber Toll Action Group website]</ref>. A protest at the bridge on [[1 September]] [[2007]] was supported by the local [http://www.pig.org.uk/html/northern_lincolnshire_.html Cancer Patients Involvement Group], the [[Road Haulage Association]], Yorkshire and Humberside MEP [[Diana Wallis]] and local business and council representatives.<ref> |
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Revision as of 10:26, 10 September 2007
Humber Bridge | |
|---|---|
 View from south side | |
| Coordinates | 53°42′25″N 0°27′00″W / 53.7069°N 0.45°W |
| Carries | Motor vehicles (on the A15), pedestrians |
| Crosses | Humber |
| Locale | East Riding of Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire |
| Maintained by | The Humber Bridge Board |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Suspension |
| Total length | 2,220 metres (7,283 ft) |
| Longest span | 1,410 metres (4,626 ft) (fourth largest in the world) |
| History | |
| Opened | To traffic on 24 June 1981 Officially on 17 July 1981 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 100,000 vehicles per week |
| Toll | Car: £2.70 HGV: £18.30 Motorcycle: £1.20 |
| Standort | |
 | |
The Humber Bridge is the fourth-largest single-span suspension bridge in the world, near Kingston upon Hull in England. It spans the Humber (the estuary formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse) between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Hessle on the north bank, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
Plans for a bridge were originally drawn up in the 1930s, and were revised in 1955, but work did not begin until July 26 1972. The bridge was finally opened officially by the Queen on 17 July 1981. The consulting engineers for the project were Freeman Fox & Partners (now Hyder).
With a centre span of 1,410 metres (4,626 ft) and a total length of 2,220 metres (7,283 ft), the Humber Bridge was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world for 14 years.
Bridge Statistics
The bridge's surface takes the form of a dual carriageway with a lower-level footpath on both sides, although traffic is often restricted to one lane both ways. There is a permanent 50mph speed limit on the full length of the bridge.
Each tower consists of a pair of hollow vertical concrete columns, each 155.5 metres (510 ft) tall and tapering from 6 metres square at the base to 4.5 x 4.75 metres at the top. The bridge is designed to tolerate constant motion and bends more than three metres in winds of 80 mph (36 m/s). The towers, although both vertical, are not parallel, being 36 mm further apart at the top than the bottom as a result of the curvature of the earth.[1]
The north tower is on the bank, and has foundations down to 8 metres (26 ft). The south tower is in the water, and descends to 36 metres (118 ft) as a consequence of the shifting sandbanks that make up the estuary.
There is enough wire in the suspension cables to circle the Earth nearly twice.
The bridge held the record for the world's longest single-span suspension bridge for 16 years from its opening in June 1981 until the opening of the Great Belt Bridge in June 1997 and was relegated to third place with the opening of the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in April 1998. It is now the fourth longest single-span suspension bridge after Runyang Bridge (China) which opened in 2005.
The road-distance between Hull and Grimsby was reduced by nearly 50 miles as a consequence of the bridge. Prior to the bridge opening, commuters would go from one bank to the other either by using the ferry that ran from Hull to New Holland, Lincolnshire or driving via the M62, M18 and M180 motorways, crossing the River Ouse near Goole (connected to the Humber) in the process. There was also a hovercraft service. Minerva and Mercury were used very briefly between Hull Pier and Grimsby Docks from 17 February 1968 to 21 October 1968, they both suffered mechanical failure at very regular intervals.
Incidents and suicides
More than 200 incidents of people jumping or falling from the bridge have taken place since it was opened in 1981 with only five surviving.[2]
Between 1990 and February 2001 the Humber Rescue Team launched its boat 64 times to deal with people falling or jumping off the bridge. [3]
Notable incidents include the cases of a West Yorkshire woman and her two-year-old daughter who fell off the bridge in 2005,[4] a mother who killed herself and her 12-year old autistic son in April 2006,[5] and that of a man jumping from the bridge to his death on the A63 road below in September 2006. As a result, plans have been considered to cage off, or introduce higher fencing along the walkways of the bridge; trials have been held, with design constraints as well as cost cited as the reason for non-implementation so far.
Throughout the year many people commit or attempt to commit suicide on the Humber Bridge, so local NHS authorities have specialist counsellors and doctors on call.[citation needed].
Similar incidents happen at bridges all over the world.
Finances
The bridge has a toll charge of £2.70 (as of 23 April 2006) for cars. The Humber Bridge is the only major toll bridge in the United Kingdom to charge tolls to motorcycles (£1.20). Others such as the Forth Road Bridge, Severn crossings and the Dartford Crossing are all free. In 2004 a large number of motorcycles held a slow-pay protest, taking off gloves and helmets and paying the toll in large denomination bank notes. [6] Police reported a tailback of 4 miles (6 km) as a consequence of the protest. Despite receiving several letters in support of the removal of tolls, they remain in place for motorcycles.
In 1996, the British Parliament passed the Humber Bridge (Debts) Act 1996 to reorganise the Humber Bridge Board's debts in order to ensure the Bridge could be safely maintained. Although a significant proportion of the debt was suspended in that refinancing arrangement there was no "write off" of debt and the suspended portion is being gradually re-activated as the Bridge Board pays off the remainder of the active debt.
In 2006 a Private Member's Bill — sponsored by Cleethorpes Labour MP Shona McIsaac — relating to the Humber Bridge, was introduced into Parliament.[7] The Humber Bridge Bill would have made amendments to the Humber Bridge Act 1959 "requiring the secretary of state to give directions to members of the Humber Bridge Board regarding healthcare and to review the possibility of facilitating journeys across the Humber Bridge in relation to healthcare". The aim was to allow people who travel from the Southbank to the Northbank for medical treatment to cross the bridge without paying the toll, and to allow the Secretary of State for Transport to appoint two members of the Humber Bridge board to represent the interests of the NHS. Even though the Bill received cross-party support (it was co-sponsored by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, and supported by all other MPs representing North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire) it ran out of time later that year. [8]
In early 2007, users of the bridge began a campaign to persuade the Government to cancel the outstanding debt, and to enable the Bridge Board to reduce tolls. This included a petition[9] and a website.[10]. A protest at the bridge on 1 September 2007 was supported by the local Cancer Patients Involvement Group, the Road Haulage Association, Yorkshire and Humberside MEP Diana Wallis and local business and council representatives.[11].
Images of the Bridge
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View from the South Bank
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View from the South Bank showing the curvature of the bridge -
View from the North Bank -
View from the Eastern walkway -
View from the North Bank
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Close up of Bridge Tower
References
- ^ "Interesting Facts". Humber Bridge Board. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- ^ "Bridge jump attempts prevented". BBC News. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "ALL IN THE SAME BOAT". Hull in print. Hull City Council. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ "Pair recover from bridge plunge". BBC News. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bridge-fall son unlawfully killed". BBC News. 11 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Humber Bridge Protest - October 12th 2004". Retrieved 2007-03-21.
- ^ "MP in Commons move to exempt hospital patients from bridge toll". Yorkshire Post. 20 January 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Humber Bridge Bill (Failed Bill 2005/06 session)". ePolitix.com. 4 August 2005. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Petitions: Cancel Humber Bridge debt and reduce tolls". Official 10 Downing Street Website. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Humber Toll Action Group website
- ^
"Protest over Humber Bridge tolls". BBC News. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)