Teesquay Millennium Footbridge is a footbridge crossing east–west over the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

between Stockton high street and

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north of York and south-east of Middlesbrough. On the south bank of the River Tees, Thornaby falls within th ...

( Teesdale Business Park) in Northern England. It is just east of Stockton town centre and in the town's namesake borough. The bridge crosses the

Teesdale Way The Teesdale Way is a long-distance walk between the Cumbrian Pennines and the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire in England. The walk is in length; it links in with other long-distance walks such as the Pennine Way and the E2 European Walk b ...

cycle route,

, and the A1035 Riverside Road. Funding for the bridge was from Stockton-on-Tees Council, the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

One NorthEast One North East was the regional development agency for the North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorth ...

, and

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national urban renewal, regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agency, regional development agencies on a regions of England, region ...

. Teesquay Millennium Footbridge is also referred to as the Millennium Bridge.

Design

Stockton Borough Council provided a brief for a 'design and build' competition to construct a pedestrian bridge across the River Tees. The 'design and build' competition was won by a team comprising

Ove Arup Sir Ove Nyquist Arup (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation offering engineering, design, planning, project management, and consultant, consulting services for bu ...

and Birse Construction. Their entry was the only one to satisfy the local council's strictly limited budget. The bridge has a

cable-stayed A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

design with architecture by Yee Associates and designed by

whereas the identification signage on the bridge states that it was designed by the constructor, Birse Construction. It has a 'A' frame pylon/mast with fanned cables and has a total span of . The walkway is wide narrowing to on the extension over Riverside Road to the Castlegate Centre.

Construction

The bridge was fabricated in Spain, constructed on site by Birse Construction North East and completed in December 2000 at a cost of £1.4m.

Operation

The bridge was opened on 20 December 2000 by Dari Taylor, Member of Parliament for Stockton South, and the mayor of Stockton-on-Tees. The Teesgate Millennium Footbridge was one of the few number of millennium footbridges to be actually completed in the millennium year, but unlike some high-profile millennium footbridges it was not funded by the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

. The bridge has been criticised for both wobbling and being too narrow to accommodate cyclists who are required to dismount and are barred from entering the Castlegate Centre in any case.

Castlegate Quay

Up-river on Castlegate Quay by the western side of the bridge there is the Castlegate Quay Watersports Centre.

Photo gallery

References

Princess of Wales Bridge The Princess of Wales Bridge, sometimes referred to as the Diana Bridge or the Princess Diana Bridge, is a dual carriageway road bridge named after the late Diana, Princess of Wales. It carries Council of Europe Boulevard across the River Tees, ...

, West =

Stockton on Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees V ...

town centre , Centre = Teesquay Millennium Footbridge
over the ''

''. , East = Teesdale Business Park

Thornaby-on-Tees Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north of York and south-east of Middlesbrough. On the south bank of the River Tees, Thornaby falls within th ...

, Southwest = , South = , Southeast = Victoria Bridge {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Teesquay Millennium Footbridge , upstream = Victoria Bridge , downstream =

(Princess) Diana Bridge {{Stockton Pedestrian bridges in England Crossings of the River Tees Bridges completed in 2000 Bridges in County Durham Bridges in North Yorkshire Buildings and structures in Stockton-on-Tees Cable-stayed bridges in England Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium 2000 establishments in England