Scammonden Bridge

{{Infobox bridge

| bridge_name = Scammonden Bridge

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image = Scammonden Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 717377.jpg

| image_size = 260px

| alt =

| caption = View east towards the reservoir

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| carries = B6144 road

| crosses = M62 motorway

| locale = Kirklees

| owner =

| maint = National Highways

| id =

| architect =

| designer = Colonel Stuart Maynard Lovell

| engineering =

| design = Open spandrel fixed-arch

| material = Reinforced concrete

| length = {{convert|656|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| width = {{convert|24|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| height = {{convert|120|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| mainspan = {{convert|410|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| spans = 1

| pierswater =

| load =

| clearance =

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| life =

| builder = Sir Alfred McAlpine

| fabricator =

| begin = January 1967

| complete =

| cost =

| open = 18 May 1970

| inaugurated = 14 October 1971

| toll =

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| heritage =

| collapsed =

| closed =

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| coordinates = {{coord|53.6477|-1.9310|display=inline,title}}

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}}

Scammonden Bridge, also known locally as the Brown Cow Bridge (after the nearby Brown Cow Inn, now closed), spans the Deanhead cutting carrying the B6114 (the former A6025) Elland to Buckstones road over the M62 motorway in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The bridge and Scammonden Reservoir to the west are named after Scammonden, the village that was flooded to accommodate the reservoir whose dam carries the motorway. On opening, the bridge was the longest concrete arch bridge in the UK.{{cite web|title=Scammonden Water|url=http://www.scammonden.org.uk/hss/modules/content/index.php?id=5|work=Scammonden Activity Centre|accessdate=20 April 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730172226/http://www.scammonden.org.uk/hss/modules/content/index.php?id=5|archivedate=30 July 2013|df=dmy-all}}

History

The bridge was built for the West Riding County Council to the designs of the county surveyor, Colonel S. Maynard Lovell. In March 1962 a model of the {{convert|37|mi|km|adj=on}} section of the M62 was displayed in Wakefield, the administrative centre of the West Riding County Council. The route of the motorway, from the A572 to the A640 at Huddersfield, was announced by Tom Fraser on 29 October 1964.

On opening, it was believed to be one of the largest concrete single spans in Europe.

The bridge had high winds; pedestrians found it sometimes hard to walk along it, so a new type of road sign, for high winds, was installed.Nottingham Evening Post Friday 18 December 1970, page 23

The £8m contract was given in late October 1966.Huddersfield Daily Examiner Friday 28 October 1966, page 15

=Design=

The bridge was planned as a flat arch bridge, but aerodynamic considerations led to an open spandrel design.[http://ciht.org.uk/motorway/m62bounpole.htm The Motorway Archive - M62, Scammonden Bridge] The main span supports eight spandrel columns and there are four other columns over the motorway cutting. The spandrel columns are {{convert|18|in|cm|0}} thick.[http://www.bath.ac.uk/ace/uploads/StudentProjects/Bridgeconference2009/Papers/SMITHT.pdf University of Bath April 2009]

The arch is a twin box section. Its deck is an inverted T-type pretensioned prestressed concrete beam. The bridge deck is {{convert|24|ft|m|1}} wide. Using computers, its design was calculated to withstand {{convert|110|mph|km/h m/s|abbr=on}} winds, and was tested in wind tunnels at the University of Nottingham and the National Physical Laboratory.[http://www.vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?year=1971&title=268&article=d.268.42 Design Journal April 1971] The motorway cutting was profiled with {{convert|15|ft|m|1|adj=on}} 'steps'.

The road it carried was the A6025, but is now the B6114 between Elland and the A640 junction at Buckstones Moss. To the west of the bridge the M62 enters Calderdale from Kirklees; the boundary crosses the B6114 north of the bridge, and follows the north side of the M62 along Scammonden Water. The road crosses the M62 at around {{convert|1017|ft|m|0}} above sea level, northeast of Cow Gate Hill.

=Opening=

It opened to traffic on Monday 18 May 1970 by Major Bruce Eccles. Huddersfield Transport ran buses to see the bridge.

=Safety improvements=

In 2020 work was carried out to erect permanent, {{convert|8|feet|m}} high, inward curving anti-climb fencing on both sides of the bridge, following a number of deaths, in order to prevent suicides.{{cite news |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/major-1m-scheme-make-m62-18137662 |title=Major £1m scheme to make M62 Scammonden Bridge safer to start |first=Robert |last=Sutcliffe |date=23 April 2020 |work=Huddersfield Daily Examiner}} Work began in June, nearly a year after Highways England confirmed they had secured the £1m required to design and build the new structures. The scheme was completed in October 2020.{{cite web |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/1m-scammonden-bridge-safety-boost-19134907 |accessdate=4 November 2021 |title=£1m Scammonden Bridge safety boost is finally finished |website=Yorkshire Live | date=20 October 2020 |author=Connor Teale }}

Construction

File:Scammonden Dam under construction in 1970.jpg, in 1970]]

The arch is made of modular precast concrete sections, weighing {{convert|9000|tonne|LT}}. The construction contractor was Alfred McAlpine. Construction of the arch required {{convert|70|mi|km}} of scaffolding tubing. During the winter there was severe ice build up on the scaffolding.

A fifty ton drilling rig began construction in early January 1967. Explosions would move 200 tons of rock, at a time. There was heavy rain in the middle of May 1967.Huddersfield Daily Examiner Wednesday 24 May 1967, page 1 38 Ruston-Bucyrus excavators worked on the project; McAlpine had bought 23 excavators in March 1967 for £400,000. It was the largest single excavation for a British motorway.Lincolnshire Echo Monday 11 March 1968, page 6 Gravel came from Scout Quarry at Edenfield in Lancashire.Manchester Evening News Thursday 9 May 1968, page 15

It was deepest motorway excavation in Europe.Manchester Evening News Tuesday 5 November 1968, page 24 Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh, the transport minister, visited on Friday 2 May 1969.Huddersfield Daily Examiner Friday 2 May 1969, page 9Huddersfield Daily Examiner Saturday 3 May 1969, page 6 Many sightseers came to see the bridge being built, often at weekends.

Excavation of the Deanhead cutting was done using explosives; 12,000,000 cubic yards were excavated.Leicester Daily Mercury Thursday 27 February 1969 The cutting is {{convert|150|ft|m}} deep, {{convert|2600|ft|m}} long, and {{convert|4.6|e6cuyd|m3}} of earth was removed during its construction. Most of it was used to build the {{convert|249|ft|m|adj=on}} high Scammonden Dam across the Black Brook valley, which was the first motorway-dam project in the world.

The route of the carriageway was set out in July 1963 and the motorway cutting began work in August 1964.[http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1142 Engineering timetables] Work on the six-mile Windy Hill to Pole Moor section began on 1 November 1966 and was carried out for 12 hours on weekdays and eight hours at weekends.

County surveyor

Stuart Maynard Lovell was awarded the CBE in the 1964 Birthday Honours. He came from Somerset, attending Cheddar Council School and Sexey's Grammar School near Wedmore, and had worked for the county council before the war, at Flax Bourton. In 1934 he had been commissioned into the 205th (Wessex) Field Company of the 1st Somersetshire Engineers, part of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, itself disbanded in 1967.Somerset Guardian Friday 8 June 1934, page 47

His father John was a surveyor with Axbridge Rural District from Cheddar, Somerset. By 1935 Stuart Lovell was a 2nd Lt,Western Daily Press Monday 16 December 1935, page 10 and a Lt in 1936.

He married on 4 January 1937, moving to Backwell,Western Daily Press Tuesday 5 January 1937, page 11 as the district surveyor of Long Ashton Rural DistrictGloucester Citizen Wednesday 9 June 1937, page 10 In August 1943, when serving in North Africa, his 66 year old father died, so Major Lovell could not attend his father's funeral. His father, John, had briefly served in the Cheddar Home Guard.Western Daily Press Friday 27 August 1943, page 2 After serving in Italy in the war, he was now a Lt-Col, and a Col by the mid-1950s.

He was later a Conservative county councillor from April 1973, of Axbridge, for Avon County Council, living in Winscombe, he died aged 74 in October 1984.Bristol Evening Post Thursday 1 November 1984, page 58

References

External links

[http://www.cbrd.co.uk/photo/scammonden-bridge/?gallery=scammondenbridge&pic= CBRD]
[http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/m62bounpole.htm Motorway Archive]
[http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Scammonden_Bridge SABRE Roads]
[http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A6025 A6025]
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/tcspics/6545274697/ Bridge construction]
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/islandyorkie/4586921052/ Construction]