Gull Wing Bridge is a road bridge being built to span

Lake Lothing Lake Lothing is a saltwater lake located in Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the Nor ...

in the town of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and so ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

, England, which is claimed to be (once completed) the largest rolling

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

in the world lifted using hydraulic cylinders. The bridge is planned to be completed and open to traffic in early 2024. The bridge will be higher than the existing bascule bridge at the harbour mouth, and so will not need to be lifted up as often for shipping to pass underneath. The idea of a third bridge in the area was first suggested in 1918, and approval for the Lake Lothing Third Crossing was granted in 2020. It was renamed ''Gull Wing Bridge'' after a competition for names being held at local schools.

History

The lifting Bridge at the eastern end of Lake Lothing in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, is raised several times a day to allow boats access and egress to the harbour, and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. This hampers the traffic system meaning it can take an hour to drive from the south side of town to the north side. It has been estimated that the lifting

carries 14,000 vehicles a day. The second bridge is upstream at

Oulton Broad Oulton Broad refers to both the lake and the suburb of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. The suburb is located west of the centre of Lowestoft. It became a civil parish in 2017. It had an estimated population of 10,338 at the 2011 U ...

, and is known as Mutford Bridge; the distance between the two existing bridges is . A third crossing was first mooted in 1918, just after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

ended. A total of three moving bridges have been built at the eastern end of Lake Lothing where the water falls into the North Sea; the current bascule lifting bridge was installed in 1972. The approval to build the £94 million Gull Wing Bridge was granted in April 2020, but by August of 2020, costs had risen to £148 million through delays, the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, and a desire to have a contingency fund "...should any unforeseen issues arise and caters for any further complications caused by coronavirus".

Gull Wing Bridge

The preparatory works for the bridge started in January 2021, with the official groundbreaking on 22 March 2021, after an unexploded ordnance survey was undertaken in the stretch of water beneath the bridge's location. The bridge will straddle the inner harbour, and connect Denmark Road and Peto Way on the north bank, with Waveney Drive on the south bank. Originally tendered to

BAM Nuttall BAM Nuttall Limited (formerly known as Edmund Nuttall Limited) is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom. It has been involved in a portfolio of road, rail, nuclear, and other major projects worldw ...

, the contract to build the bridge fell through and was re-tendered to Farrans. Road Access to the bridge from the south will be along the B1351 (Waveney Drive), which has access to the A1117 road in the west, and the

A12 road This is a list of roads designated A12. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country. * A012 road (Argentina), a road around the city of Rosario * A12 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Kufstein and the German Autobahn A 93 to Landeck ...

in the east. On the northern side, the road will access the A12 road, and the

A47 road The A47 is a major road in England linking Birmingham to Lowestoft, Suffolk. Most of the section between Birmingham and Nuneaton is now classified as the B4114. From Peterborough eastwards, it is a trunk road (sections west of the A1 road h ...

, as well as the A1114 road through either Denmark Road or Peto Way. The design of the bridge includes a foot and cycle path on both sides, with a single-lane of traffic in each direction (north/south) with a maximum speed limit of 30 MPH. Some of the piles for the bridge foundations will be up to below ground level. The height of the bridge above high water will be , and at the northern end will have a clearance above the railway line into station. Whilst the space between the two main spans in the water will be , safety features fitted to the span walls will limit this to a maximum width of . The Gull Wing Bridge will be at a greater height above the water level than the existing bascule bridge at the eastern end of Lake Lothing; because of this, it is hoped the bridge will not be needed to be raised as many times per day, thereby causing less disruption to traffic. The design calls for a lifting section in the middle, which will raise southwards to allow ships to pass underneath. A traffic assessment indicated that approximately 10,000 vessels will need to go past the point of the bridge (10% less than the bascule bridge at the harbour mouth), but that the bridge will only need to be raised for 25% of the traffic passing. The name of the bridge was decided upon after a local schools competition, and pupils from

Somerleyton Somerleyton is a village and former civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of Lowestoft and south-west of Great Yarmouth in the East Suffolk district. The village is closely associated with Somerleyton Ha ...

Primary School described the style of the bascule bridge posts as looking like a gull's wings.

Construction Timeline

February 2021 - Preparation works began April 2021 - Construction began June 2021 - Land piling works began July 2021 - Marine piling works began May 2022 - Colin Law Way access road opened September 2021 - Waveney Drive junction is closed to all traffic August 2022 - Piling for the bridge piers complete October 2022 - Installation of first steel deck section (Northern Approach Viaduct 1) (NAV1) November 2022 - Formal opening of Colin Law Way January 2023 - Completion & Reopening of Waveney Drive Roundabout/Dual Carriageway March 2023 - Denmark Road closes to all traffic Construction of Gull Wing Bridge Lowestoft

Construction of Gull Wing Bridge Lowestoft

March 2023 - Control tower structure built to full height April 2023 - Installation of steel sections for NAV2 and NAV3, completing the Northern Approach May 2023 - Installation of Southern Approach Viaducts (SAV) 1 - 4, completing the Southern Approach -- November 2023 - Planned Opening of Northern Approach Roundabout & Improvements to Denmark Road Early 2024 - Installation of main lifting bascule span 2024 - Planned Bridge Opening

Reclassification of Roads

The new bridge will become part of the

. Plans include reclassifying several other A and B roads to reflect the new primary route through the town. * B1531 (Waveney Drive from Tom Crisp Roundabout to the new Gull Wing Southern Roundabout) will become part of the A12 * The Gull Wing Bridge and associated approach ramps will be designated part of the A12 * Peto Way will become part of the A12 * The A1117 (Peto Way & Millennium Way) will become part of the A12 Other classification changes include the A1117 (Normanston Drive, Bridge, Road and Saltwater Way) becoming part of the A146.

References

Sources

* *{{cite report, last1=Surl, first1=Rob, last2=Baker, first2=Ian, last3=Diver, first3=Thomas, last4=Santhakumar, first4=R, title=Lake Lothing Third Crossing Business Case , url=https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/TR010023/TR010023-000372-7.4%20-%20Outline%20Business%20Case.pdf, website=infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk, access-date=23 November 2021, date=June 2018

External links

Bridge website
Lowestoft Bridges in Suffolk