Newport Transporter Bridge

Newport Transporter Bridge

To mark the upcoming centenary celebrations, I took a visit to Newport’s Transporter Bridge. On September 12th, 2006, the magnificent Grade 1 listed structure will be 100 years old, and it’s still going strong.

Newport Council has planned a number of events to coincide with the anniversary, including a Transporter-Bridge themed Maindee Festival in July and on the 15th-17th September an extravaganza of “Music, Performance, Art, Dance, Circus, Produce Show and Engineering Heritage Pavilion, all held in the shadow of the Newport Transporter Bridge”.
The need for a second bridge was first considered in the late 19th century, as the industrial revolution reached Newport. The town was, and still is, separated by the fast-flowing River Usk, and at that time the existing Town Bridge was deemed inadequate to cope with the weight of industrial traffic which was developing along Corporation Road. In 1896 John Lysaght, announced his intention to create a huge steelworks and Newport council promised the creation of a new river crossing.

Tunnels and high level bridges were considered, but deemed too expensive. The main problem was the frequent high tides, and the need for tall ships to sail further upstream. Newport’s Borough Engineer, Mr R H Haynes, proposed that Ferdinand Arnodin’s idea of an “Aerial Ferry” would overcome such difficulties, as demonstrated by an earlier construction in Rouen, France.

For those who don’t know how it works, a transporter bridge is a type of movable bridge that carries a segment of roadway across a river. The “gondola” is slung from a tall span by a metal frame. The design has been used to cross bodies of water, where there is a requirement for ship traffic to be able to pass. This is a rare type of bridge, with fewer than two dozen built and just eight which continue to be used today.

Work started on construction in 1902, and the Transporter Bridge was opened by Viscount Tredegar on the 12th September 1906. The bridge stands 242ft tall and the towers span a distance of 645ft. The gondola is able to carry six cars and 120 foot passengers, (pedestrians travel for free!).

For those who wish to learn more, there is a visitor centre on the Pillgwenlly side of the bridge, which provides an overview of the bridge’s history and construction, an audio-visual presentation with interactive model and a number of souvenirs.