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Pont Briwet refers to the road and railway bridges that cross the
River Dwyryd The River Dwyryd (), is a river in Gwynedd, Wales which flows principally westwards; draining to the sea into Tremadog Bay, south of Porthmadog. Geography The Dwyryd rises in the hills to the north of Ffestiniog. At its most northern extent, w ...
, near
Penrhyndeudraeth Penrhyndeudraeth (; ) is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census, increased from 2 ...
,
Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
. The first bridge was a
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
road and railway
viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...
that was constructed entirely from timber by the
Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of Railway track, track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with c ...
company. Although it was recognised as being a
Grade II listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, a result of it being an increasingly rare example of a surviving 19th-century wooden road and railway viaduct, the condition of the bridge had deteriorated over time and by the 21st century was posing regular and considerable inconvenience to both road and rail traffic. Due to the operational impact of the old bridge, it was decided to build a replacement structure alongside as a joint project between the
Welsh government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
and national rail infrastructure company
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
to upgrade the route. Despite plans to retain the old bridge for pedestrian traffic, it was determined that it had been further weakened and rendered structurally unsafe by the
piling A pile or piling is a vertical structural element of a deep foundation, driven or drilled deep into the ground at the building site. A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from th ...
performed to establish the new bridge's foundations, resulting in its immediate closure in December 2013 and its demolition during the following year. The new Pont Briwet crosses the Dwyryd on the same alignment as the original structure but it is both stronger and wider to accommodate larger vehicles and traffic volume. It also accommodates a combined cycle path and pedestrian walkway, as well as carrying multiple utilities, such as
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
and
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
, across its structure. Progress on the new bridge's construction was subject to several delays, the impact of which having been compounded by the necessity of the old structure's closure prior to its completion. It was initially opened only to rail traffic during September 2014; during July 2015, the new bridge was opened to road traffic as well.


History


Victorian bridge

;Origins Prior to the construction of Pont Briwet, the issue of traversing the estuaries at
Traeth Mawr is a polder near Porthmadog in Gwynedd in Wales. The area was formerly the large tidal estuary of the ''Afon Glaslyn''. It was created after large-scale land reclamation occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A large embankment, cal ...
and Traeth Bach had been historically troublesome; people had the options of travelling across either on foot or by boat. By the 19th century, a regular ferry service was in operation. Proposals to establish a bridge crossing of the Dwyryd are believed to have been first aired during 1842, however, nothing immediately came of these proposals."Pont Briwet."
''walesher1974.org'', GAT Project No. 2144. Report No. 894. October 2010.
During 1861 and 1862, the
Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was a standard gauge railway company, running a line along the west coast of Wales. The railway was planned to run between Anglicised place name spellings were used during most of the history of the line ...
company was authorised by an Act of Parliament to construct a coastal line along
Cardigan Bay Cardigan Bay () is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales. Geography Cardigan Bay ha ...
between the city of and Porthdinllaen on the Lleyn Peninsula. The company's selected route, which became commonly known as the Cambrian Coast railway, is largely attributable to the
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
Benjamin Piercy Benjamin Piercy (16 March 1827 – 24 March 1888) was a civil engineer. He developed railway lines in Wales, Sardinia (Italy), France and India and is also well known as an agrarian businessman and entrepreneur. liceo brotzu Early life Benjam ...
, the company's chief engineer at the time. The selected route included the bridge now known as Pont Briwet, which was built to carry the line to the town of
Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...
. During 1865, the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway company merged with the rival
Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of Railway track, track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with c ...
company. Shortly thereafter,
boardroom A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...
struggles within the newly created company contributed to a delay in the project. Henry Conybeare briefly replaced Piercy as the company's chief engineer, before being himself replaced by Piercy's former deputy, George Owen. It is uncertain which of these were responsible for designing Pont Briwet. During February 1866, the construction of the bridge was dealt a major setback when the contractor responsible for building it, Thomas Savin, was declared
bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...
. As a consequence, Pont Briwet was not completed until the following year, being officially opened on 10 October 1867. The road over the bridge acted to remove an otherwise-necessary 13 kilometre (8 mile) detour via
Maentwrog Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the vil ...
, a major boon to local residents."Pont Briwet, near Penrhyndeudraeth."
''historypoints.org'', Retrieved: 6 June 2018.
The ferry service was soon closed due to it being unable to compete with the newly opened bridge. ;Design The original Pont Briwet was a timber pile viaduct, which were a commonplace feature of coastal railways during this era, being relatively cheap and flexible structures in comparison to the common alternatives. It accommodated both a single track for rail traffic as well as a single lane of roadway for a
toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...
. Although the bridge was decked with timber planks, the road carriageway was waterproofed with a metalled surface. The deck was carried upon 22 equal spans, which were evenly spaced at intervals of 5.8 metres. The bridge was furnished with substantial battered
abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
s, composed of rough blocks of
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
that were in excess of 40 metres in terms of length. The piers of the bridge comprised either four or five timber piles, each roughly 350mm across, which were connected by crosshead timbers and braced with diagonals.
Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
was used for the bolts and bracing bars used to fix elements in place. These created a series of frames on which longitudinal beams carried both the road and railway; those beams that were underneath the tracks were substantially larger than those under the roadway due to the greater weight of trains in comparison to road vehicles during that time. ;Operational life During 1932, the bridge was extensively rebuilt by the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
(GWR) company, into which Cambrian Railways had been amalgamated during the 1920s. During this work, half of the wooden piles were replaced with new
creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood, or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types w ...
d
pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...
; it is believed that in excess of 183 tonnes of timber were removed during the replacement process. Additional changes made to the structure also included alterations to the cross members and bracings. As a consequence of this work, the overall width of the bridge was increased to .“Pont Briwet (1867), site of.”
‘’ engineering-timelines.com’’, Retrieved: 6 June 2018.
A less popular practice of Pont Briwet was the toll that was in place for road vehicles. During 1909, the local council lent its support towards efforts to abolish the tolls on the bridge; however, this pressure was ultimately unsuccessful at removing the tolls as the practice survived until the closure of the original bridge during the early 21st century. By 2009, toll prices were 40p for cars, as well as 30p for trailers and motorcycles. Despite the
nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
of the "Big Four" British railway companies during early 1947, the viaduct remained a privately owned
toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...
for road traffic travelling between Penrhyndeudraeth and
Harlech Harlech () is a seaside resort and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, North Wales, and formerly in the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it ...
. Over time, the roadway was redesigned to control vehicle movements using sets of
traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...
s that were located at either end of the bridge. Reportedly, the bridge and line benefited heavily from the freight traffic generated after the establishment of Cooke's explosives factory near
Penrhyndeudraeth Penrhyndeudraeth (; ) is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census, increased from 2 ...
during 1872. By 2010, a speed limit of had been imposed on all trains crossing the bridge. Additionally, in terms of road vehicles, the structure could only accommodate single-file traffic, serving both directions of traffic by alternating between the two. It was also restricted to those vehicles that weighed less than ; as a result of this restriction, the route was only passable by cars, which meant that all heavier vehicles would have to go through a detour, significantly affecting the journeys of
ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...
s and
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
es, along with
van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...
s and
lorries A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
. Pedestrians were also unable to use the bridge because of the narrow width of the carriageway.


Replacement

;Planning During July 2010, the
Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...
announced the launch of a £20 million joint project with national rail infrastructure company
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
that intended to produce a new structure to replace the existing bridge by 2013. At the time, it was stated that the old bridge was to be retained as a result of its listed status; following the opening of the new bridge, it was intended that it would be transformed into a pedestrian walkway. However, soon after the commencement of work on the new structure, approval was granted for the old viaduct's demolition during February 2012. The new Pont Briwet would carry the single-track railway plus a two-lane carriageway and a combined cycleway and footpath. The road's speed limit would be raised to and toll charges abolished. Although the road and rail bridges share the same pillars, like the original viaduct, the superstructures of the new crossings would be separate. Planners also said that, apart from a four-week period in which work would be undertaken to relocate electrical cabling, the old viaduct would remain open throughout the works. ;Design and construction During March 2013, work commenced upon the construction of the new bridge. However, in November 2013, it was announced that the existing wooden bridge had been found to have been affected by the
piling A pile or piling is a vertical structural element of a deep foundation, driven or drilled deep into the ground at the building site. A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from th ...
activity performed to produce the new bridge's foundations. The old bridge was declared structurally unsafe and closed to all traffic during December 2013. The closure necessitated an 8-mile diversion via
Maentwrog Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the vil ...
for road users and rail services were terminated at , closing the line to via . A new temporary road bridge was due to be in place by Spring 2014, but this plan was shelved by
Gwynedd County Council Gwynedd Council, which calls itself by its Welsh name , is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was c ...
in favour of a controlled traffic management system on the A496 between Maentwrog and Llandecwyn because of safety fears related to increased traffic on the A496. The 'design and build' contract was awarded to Hochtief and Hewson Consulting acted as their lead consultant for the multi-disciplinary design team. The design of the replacement bridge features the extensive use of the innovative precasting technique which accelerated the construction activities and minimised the disruption to surrounding watercourse. ;Completion On 1 September 2014, the new rail viaduct was opened for services between and . However, work continued into the following year on the accompanying roadway; progress on its construction had been delayed by difficulty in the relocation of electricity cables and a water main that previously crossed the old bridge. After two years of work and some significant delays, the road crossing was finally opened to traffic in the summer of 2015.Smith, Nicola
"Video: New £20m Pont Briwet bridge officially opens to cars."
''BBC News'', 13 July 2015.


See also

*
List of bridges in Wales This list of bridges in Wales lists bridges of particular historical, scenic, architectural or engineering interest in Wales. Road and railway bridges, viaducts, aqueducts and footbridges are included. List Bridges are listed under the names u ...
* Barmouth Viaduct, a surviving 19th-century wooden trestle bridge across the
River Mawddach is a river in Gwynedd, Wales, which has its source in a wide area north of Dduallt in Snowdonia. It is 28 miles (45 km) in length, and is much branched; many of the significant tributaries are of a similar size to the main river. The c ...
*
Traeth Mawr is a polder near Porthmadog in Gwynedd in Wales. The area was formerly the large tidal estuary of the ''Afon Glaslyn''. It was created after large-scale land reclamation occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A large embankment, cal ...
, The Cob embankment was once another privatised road and rail crossing near
Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...
*
Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...


References


Citations

{{reflist


External links


Facebook page concerning Pont Briwet Improvement Works
Road bridges in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Gwynedd Railway bridges in Wales Toll bridges in Wales Pedestrian bridges in Wales Penrhyndeudraeth Talsarnau Bridges in Gwynedd