The Tees Newport Bridge is a

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

spanning the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...

a short distance upriver from

Tees Transporter Bridge The Tees Transporter Bridge, also referred to as the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, is a bridge in northern England. It is the furthest downstream bridge across the River Tees and the longest remaining transporter in the world. The bridge is ...

, linking

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

with the

borough of Stockton-on-Tees The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire, England. The borough had a population of 191,600 in 2011. The main settlemen ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. It no longer lifts, but still acts as a road bridge in its permanently down position.

Design

Mott, Hay and Anderson Mott, Hay and Anderson (MHA) was a successful 20th century firm of consulting civil engineers based in the United Kingdom. The company traded until 1989, when it merged with Sir M MacDonald & Partners to form '' Mott MacDonald''. History Earl ...

and built by local company

Dorman Long Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh ...

, who have also been responsible for such structures as the Tyne Bridge and Sydney Harbour Bridge, it was the first large vertical-lift bridge in Britain. Constructed around twin lifting towers, the bridge span, weighing 2,700 tonnes, could be lifted by the use of two 325 H.P. electric motors at per minute to a maximum height of . In the event of motor failure a standby 450 H.P. petrol engine could be employed to move the bridge, but should both systems fail it was possible to raise or lower the span manually using a winch mechanism. It was estimated in 1963 by Mr R. Batty, long time Bridge Master at Newport Bridge, that "it would take 12 men eight hours" to complete the movement by hand.

Opening and operation

The bridge was inaugurated by

Prince Albert, Duke of York George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

(later King George VI) and opened to traffic on 28 February 1934. Originally, 12 men would have been employed to man the bridge around the clock, usually requiring four to drive it at any one time. This was accomplished from the oak-panelled winding house situated midway along the bridge span. During the 1940s and early 1950s this would occur up to twice a day with an average of 800 vessels per year passing under it, despite staffing difficulties during the 1940s when men were away fighting. However, as the number of ships needing to sail up to

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

declined, so did the usage of the bridge. Tees Newport Bridge-1200

The legal requirement to lift the bridge for shipping traffic was removed in 1989 after the repeal of a Parliamentary Act. Before mechanical decommissioning Mr Ian MacDonald, who worked on the bridge from 1966, finally as Bridge Master, supervised the final lift on 18 November 1990. The Tees Newport Bridge still serves as a road bridge, carrying considerable traffic as a section of the A1032, despite the presence of the

A19 Tees Viaduct The A19 Tees Viaduct or Tees Flyover is a high level six-lane dual carriageway road bridge in the North East of England carrying the main A19 trunk road north–south across the River Tees. The bridge is located between Middlesbrough and Sto ...

a short distance upriver. In recent years it was repainted in its original green and some minor maintenance took place on the wire ropes and counterbalances which still take the majority of the bridge load. In 1988 the bridge was given Grade II

Listed Building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

status. In July 2014, work started to paint the bridge red and silver to mark its 80th anniversary. This was planned to take six weeks but was completed behind schedule and over budget mainly because of the poor condition of the steelwork, the result of lack of maintenance. As ships dock on the banks of the River Tees up to the Tees Newport Bridge the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

publishes tide times for the bridge location.

References

External links

* Bridge Information
Middlesbrough Council
an

magazine * Gazette Live article including construction pictures

*

at ''Bridges on the Tyne'' * Warwick, Tosh (2011), 'The Politics of Bridge Building: The Long Wait for the Tees (Newport) Bridge'. ''Cleveland History'', 99. pp. 37–48.

* Images
Flickr

Video of the final lift in November 1990
{{Navboxes , list1= {{Crossings navbox , structure = List of crossings of the River Tees, Crossings , place =

, bridge = Tees Newport Bridge
(Newport Bridge) , upstream =

(Tees Flyover)
next pedestrian crossing Tees Barrage , downstream =

{{Middlesbrough {{Stockton Bridges in County Durham Bridges in North Yorkshire Vertical lift bridges in the United Kingdom Crossings of the River Tees Buildings and structures in Middlesbrough Buildings and structures in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Bridges completed in 1934 Transport in Middlesbrough Transport in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire 1934 establishments in England

Design

Opening and operation

See also

References

External links