The Long Awaited Bridge

At last, after ten years of protracted negotiations and hard work, the new Longhorse Bridge spans the River Trent at Shardlow.
It was installed today, and within a few weeks we will be cycling across it when the connecting paths are completed.

Here it is then, in position, still attached to the 1000 tonne crane which lifted it into position in about 25 minutes.  

This is a bowstring bridge and has a span of 52 m.  It's weight is 60 tonnes, and it's map reference is SK 459307.
The structure was manufactured in Chepstow, and transported to site in four pieces, which were then bolted together before welding.  It was off-loaded onto the river bank for the finishing work to be done.
Today was the culmination (almost) of  ten years of work by Derbyshire County Council, British Waterways, and their contractors.

Below - a shot of the bridge sitting on the bank awaiting lifting into position. The main jib of the crane lies horizontal behind the bridge at this stage, and the concrete footings for the bridge can be seen in front of the crane.

There will be an official opening ceremony of the Longhorse Bridge in November.
The bridge is so called because it's predecessor was a long bridge for horses, rather than a bridge for  long horses.

And here a picture of the bridge in mid-lift.

This is a picture of the old bridge, demolished in 2003 by British Waterways on safety grounds.

It was actually made of concrete and not the prettiest of bridges in my opinion. A bridge was necessary here to enable horses, which were in those days used to pull barges on the canal, to cross the River Trent at it's confluence with the River Derwent and the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The new bridge is to the right of this position where the river is narrower and it is not necessary to have piers in the river to support the new single span bridge. To facilitate this there was a compulsary purchase order required to obtain the access land.