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Bridge Facts

The Newport Transporter Bridge is located in Newport, South Wales, UK. It is one of eight known Transporter Bridges in the World.

 

A Transporter Bridge transports vehicles and people from one side of the river to another via a movable suspended gondala (ferry). The gondola is pulled from one side of the river to the other allowing ships to pass underneath.   

 

​The Newport Transporter Bridge opened on 12th September 1906 and was created to allow tall masted ships to access wharves further up the River Usk. The designers were RH Haynes, the Borough Engineers of Newport and Ferdinand Arnodin who is noted as inventor and engineer of Transporter Bridges internationally.

 

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Transporter Bridges of the World

The first ever Transporter Bridge to be constructed was near Bilbao, Spain in 1893. The design of which was created in consultation with the Newport transporter bridges designer Ferdinand Arnodin from France who was one of the leading experts in suspension bridge design.  

  • 1893 Portugalete near Bilbao (Spain) still working

  • 1898 Bizerta (Tunisia) rebuilt in Brest 1909

  • 1899 Rouen (France) blown up 1940

  • 1900 Martrou (France) still working

  • 1903 Nantes (France) dismantled

  • 1957 1905 Marseille (France) dismantled 1944

  • 1905 Duluth (USA) converted to lifting bridge 1929

  • 1905 Runcorn, Widnes dismantled 1961

  • 1906 Newport still working

  • 1909 Brest (France) transferred (Bizerta), destroyed 1947

  • 1909 Kiel (Germany) dismantled 1923

  • 1909 Osten, Hamburg (Germany) still working

  • 1910 Bordeaux (France) only towers built due to onset of WW1

  • 1911 Middlesbrough still working

  • 1913 Rendsburg (Germany) still working

  • 1915 Riachuelo, Buenos Aires still working

  • 1915 Rio de Janeiro replaced (fixed bridge 1935)

  • 1916 Crossfields, Warrington needs refurbishment

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  • Main Span: 197m

  • Distance between two towers: 180m

  • Height from high water to underside of boom: 54m

  • Height to top tower from road level: 74m

  • Distance from anchorage to tower: 137m

  • Distance from east anchorage to west anchorage: 471m

  • Weight of steel in each tower: 282 tonnes

  • Weight of steel in main boom: 548 tonnes

  • Weight of traveller: 16 tonnes

  • Weight of Gondola and suspension cables: 36 tonnes

  • Main suspension cables 4 groups of 4: 16

  • Each cable 127 wires in 7 layers app.

  • Overall diameter: 75mm

  • Total weight on main cables: 199 tonnes

  • Masonry Anchorages each weigh 2236 tonnes, founded on timber piles

  • Tower foundations Caissons (4 each tower): 6m diameter

  • Main boom width: 8m

  • Main boom depth: 5m

  • Traveller length: 32m 60 wheels: 2215

  • Gondola length/width: 10m / 12m

  • Speed of travel: 3m per second

  • Power: electric direct current

  • Two motors: each of 35 brake horse power

KEY

STATISTICS

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