TRANSPORTER BRIDGE

"Follow Vulcan Street through Middlesbrough's old quarter of St Hilda's. A short side-step will take you to the celebrated Transporter Bridge, an imposing web of blue-steel girders and cable that has become Middlesbrough's best-known landmark."

The Teesdale Way. Martin Collins and Paddy Dillon. 2005

Middlesbrough's landmark Transporter Bridge is one of the great bridges of the UK and the most spectacular on the Tees. It can be seen for miles over the flat Tees Estuary which it dominates to the north. Opened on 17 October 1911 it links Middlesbrough to Port Clarence on the Tees' north bank with its industrial hinterland beyond. The bridge carries a car suspended 49 metres above the Tees by steel cables across the river, taking about 90 seconds to cross.

It is the largest such bridge still in operation and is a Grade 2 listed building. Owned by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Middlesbrough Council, it is operated and maintained by the latter. It replaced various ferries which crossed the Tees near the site and cost £84000. Designed by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co Ltd of Middlesbrough, (consulting engineer Georges Camille Imbault) and constructed in steel by Sir William Arrol and Co of Glasgow, it has a main span of 143 metres and a total length of 260 metres.

Abseiling and bungee jumping are sometimes permitted on the bridge and attract many onlookers. (see lower picture). The port of Tees is a little downstream.

For more information, see the website of the Middlesbrough Transporter bridge

Transporter Bridge Facts

Constructed - 1911
Type - cantilever truss, gravity-anchored.
Position: Middlesbrough.
Grid Ref: NZ 500 216

Transporter Bridge

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