:Newport Transporter Bridge

{{short description|Historic bridge across the Usk in Wales, opened in 1906}}

{{Infobox bridge

|image = Transporter Bridge, from Coronation Park.jpg

|bridge_name = Newport Transporter Bridge

|caption = The bridge viewed from Coronation Park

|official_name = Newport Transporter Bridge

|locale = Newport, Wales

|coordinates={{coord|51.57064|-2.98556|display=inline,title}}

|carries = Motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians including buses and multi sized lorries.

|crosses = River Usk

|maint = Newport City Council

|heritage=Grade I|designer=Ferdinand Arnodin|open = 12 September 1906

|traffic =

|design = Transporter bridge

|toll = Adult Single – £1.50
Adult Return – £2.00
Child Single – 50p
Child Return – £1.00
Day Ticket (inc. unlimited trips on the gondola and walking across the top of the bridge) – £4.00{{Cite web|url=http://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/Transporter-Bridge/Visit.aspx|title = Visit}}

|mainspan = 196.56m (644.88 ft)

|length = 236m (774.28 ft)

|width = Three cars (gondola)
(total width 108 ft / 33 m)

}}

The Newport Transporter Bridge ({{langx|cy|Pont Gludo Casnewydd}}) is a transporter bridge that crosses the River Usk in Newport, South East Wales. The bridge is the lowest crossing on the River Usk. It is a Grade I listed structure.

It is one of fewer than 10 transporter bridges that remain in use worldwide; only a few dozen were ever built. It is one of only two operational transporter bridges in Britain, the other being the Tees Transporter Bridge.

History

The bridge was designed by French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin. It was built in 1906 and opened by Godfrey Charles Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, on 12 September 1906.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/5336618.stm|title=City transporter bridge centenary|work=BBC News|access-date=17 August 2013|location=Newport|date=12 September 2006}} Newport Museum holds a silver cigar cutter which was presented to Viscount Tredegar on the day of the opening, as a memento of the occasion.{{cite web|url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/the_archive/now_and_then/12917471.NOW_AND_THEN__The_opening_of_the_Newport_Transporter_Bridge/ |title=Now and Then: The opening of the Newport Transporter Bridge|publisher=South Wales Argus|date=28 April 2015|access-date=3 September 2023}}

Design

The design was chosen because the river banks are very low at the desired crossing point (a few miles south of the city centre) where an ordinary bridge would need a very long approach ramp to attain sufficient height to allow ships to pass under, and a ferry could not be used during low tide at the site.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lofVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22transporter%20bridge%22%20%22popular%20mechanics%22&pg=RA1-PA60 |magazine=Popular Mechanics Magazine |title=Suspended Ferry Carries Traffic Across English River |year=1922 |page=60–61 |access-date=30 November 2023 |editor-last=Windsor |editor-first=Henry Haven |volume=37}} The river is too narrow for a swing bridge or a bascule bridge (drawbridge).{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/01/geeks_guide_newport_transporter_bridge/ |title=Is it a bridge? Is it a ferry? No, it's the Newport Transporter |last=Taylor |first=Alun |date=1 October 2021 |access-date=30 November 2023 |website=The Register}}

Principal dimensions

A Corporation of Newport drawing dated December 1902 is calibrated in metres. The height of the towers is {{Convert|73.6|m|sigfig=4}}, and the height to the underside of the main girder truss above the road level is {{cvt|49.97|m}}. The span between the centres of the towers is {{cvt|196.56|m}}, and the clearance between the towers is quoted as being {{cvt|180.44|m|sigfig=3}}; however, including the cantilevered sections, the main girder truss gives the bridge an overall length of {{cvt|236|m|sigfig=4}}. The distance between the centres of the anchorage caissons is {{cvt|471.06|m|sigfig=5}}. Power to propel the transporter platform or gondola is provided by two {{cvt|35|hp|sigfig=3}} electric motors, which in turn drive a large winch, situated in an elevated winding house at the eastern end of the bridge. This winch is sufficient to drive the gondola through its {{cvt|196.56|m}} total travel at a speed of {{convert|3|m/s}}.

When compared with Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge, the Newport Transporter is {{cvt|5|m}} taller, but {{cvt|23|m}} less in overall length. It also utilizes approximately {{convert|1400|LT|ST|abbr=off}} of steel compared to {{convert|2600|LT|ST|abbr=on}} used to construct Middlesbrough's Transporter (not accounting for steel used in foundations or concrete anchors).{{cite magazine|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/novel-transportation-bridge-in-grea/ |title=Novel Transportation Bridge in Great Britain |magazine=Scientific American |last=Coleman |first=F. C. |date=16 December 1911 |access-date=30 November 2023}} This difference in weight is mainly due to the Newport bridge making use of cables to support and induce tension into its structure to a far greater extent than the Middlesbrough bridge.

The bridge is a Grade I listed structure, its Cadw listing describing it as "the oldest and largest of the three historic transporter bridges which remain in Britain, and also the largest of eight such bridges which remain worldwide".{{Cadw|num=3076|desc=Newport Transporter Bridge|grade=I|access-date=3 September 2023}}

Other information

Today, the bridge is considered an “iconic symbol” of the city of Newport, particularly as a mark of its industrial heritage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/09/newport_transporter_bridge.html|title=BBC - Wales History: Newport Transporter Bridge}} As well as a working transport link, the bridge is also open as a tourist attraction – visitors can climb the towers and walk across the upper deck for a small charge. The bridge forms part of the classified highway network and is also where route 4 of the National Cycle Network crosses the River Usk and route 47 begins. It was the focal point of the local millennium celebrations of 2000, where fireworks were fired from its length, and has been featured in several movies and television shows. It was the centre-piece of the Crow Point Festival in September 2006 to celebrate its centenary. It is used for charity events such as sponsored abseils.

=Refurbishment=

The bridge was shut down in 1985 because of wear and tear. Following a £3 million refurbishment, it reopened in 1995. Service was suspended again in December 2008 with the bridge facing a £2 million repair bill.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7824712.stm|title=Nine historic buildings get £385k|publisher=BBC Wales News|access-date=17 August 2013|location=Newport|date=13 January 2009}} £1.225 million was spent on refurbishment, financed by grants from the Welsh Government, Newport City Council and Cadw. It re-opened on 30 July 2010.{{cite news|url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/8290205.Transporter_Bridge_to_re_open/|title=Transporter Bridge to re-open|publisher=South Wales Argus|date=25 July 2010| location=Newport|access-date=25 July 2010}} The bridge was closed on 16 February 2011, because of operational problems, but re-opened again on 4 June.{{cite web|url=http://www.newport.gov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=transporter.homepage |title=Newport Museums & Heritage Service : Homepage |website=Newport.gov.uk |access-date=2016-09-18}}

=Appearances in popular media=

The transporter bridge provided the setting for some scenes in the 1959 British crime drama film Tiger Bay, which was set in Cardiff and therefore gave audiences the impression that the bridge was in Cardiff and not Newport. The bridge also appears in an early scene in the 1972 experimental film The Other Side of the Underneath by Jane Arden{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} and features extensively in the 1996 video for the song "Talk to Me" by Newport band 60 Ft. Dolls.{{youtube|19DPCAog4gI|60 Ft Dolls - Talk to Me (Version 1)}}

Visitor centre

The Visitor Centre is located on the west bank and features exhibits on the history of the bridge, its construction and other transporter bridges around the world. The centre has a painting of David Pearce, the former undefeated Welsh and British Heavyweight Boxing Champion 1983–1985. Pearce used to run up the steps of the Transporter Bridge during his training. The centre is generally open at weekends,{{Cite web |url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/14901209.Campaigners_hope_to_put_Statue_honouring__Newport_s_Rocky__on_Gilligan_s_Island/?action=success#comment_17315903|title = Campaigners hope to put statue honouring 'Newport's Rocky' on Gilligan's Island}} but it is currently closed until Summer 2024, while extensive restoration of the bridge structure is performed and a new visitor centre is constructed.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/en/Transporter-Bridge/Transporter-Bridge.aspx|title = Newport Museums & Heritage Service: Transporter Bridge}}

Gallery

Newport.transporter.750pix.jpg|The bridge from the West bank to the North

transporter.3.750pix.jpg|The gondola in transit

Gondola and pier, Newport Transporter Bridge.jpg|Gondola approaching the pier

Newport Transporter Bridge 051.JPG|Looking down onto the gondola

Main girder from inside, Newport Transporter Bridge.jpg|Main girder, from inside

Newport Transporter Bridge Walkway.jpg|Walkway on top of the bridge showing the pulley cable

Newport transporter bridge (Wonder Book of Engineering Wonders, 1931).jpg| Newport Transporter Bridge, 1931

Newport Transporter Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 666383.jpg|The Transporter Bridge in 2008

References

External links

[http://www.fontb.org Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120814141418/http://education.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/32360 Dimensioned blue-print drawing of Newport's Transporter Bridge]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060714023101/http://www.crowpoint.co.uk/ Crow Point Festival] – Transporter Bridge centenary celebrations
{{Structurae|id=20002345|title=Newport Transporter Bridge}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070819071612/http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item10/26351 A collection of photographs, documents and plans relating to the construction of the Newport Transporter Bridge, 1902–06]
[http://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/Transporter-Bridge/Transporter-Bridge.aspx Newport Council page for the transporter bridge]

Category:Bridges in Newport, Wales

Category:Road bridges in Wales

Category:Bridges completed in 1906

Category:Grade I listed bridges in Wales

Category:Transporter bridges

Category:Suspension bridges in Wales

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Newport, Wales

Category:Culture in Newport, Wales

Category:Landmarks in Newport, Wales

Category:Transport in Newport, Wales

Category:Toll bridges in Wales

Category:Tourist attractions in Newport, Wales