Sheppey Crossing

Sheppey Crossing
Coordinates 51°23′26.20″N 00°44′49.76″E / 51.3906111°N 0.7471556°E / 51.3906111; 0.7471556
Carries Four lane dual carriageway highway
Crosses The Swale (a strait in the North Sea)
Locale Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England
Characteristics
Design beam bridge
Total length 1.3km
Width 21 metres (70 feet)
Longest span 92.5m
Clearance above 35 metres (115 feet)
History
Construction cost ₤30 million[1]
Opened July 3, 2006

The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across The Swale (a strait in the North Sea), linking the Isle of Sheppey with mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height of 35 m (115 feet) over the water. The A249 links the M20 and M2 motorways to Sheppey. The bridge opened in 2006, and it provides an alternative highway to the neighbouring Kingsferry Bridge that was completed in 1959.

The Sheppey Crossing is not open to pedestrians, bicycles, or horses, and these continue to use the older bridge, as does the railway line to Sheerness. Both bridges are monitored by an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to detect lawbreaking vehicles.[2]

Construction

The A249 approaching the Sheppey Crossing from the south.

The bridge was constructed as part of a £100 million plan to improve the A249 between the M2 and the port of Sheerness.[3] The Kingsferry Bridge, which previously carried the A249, suffers from two major drawbacks: It has only one lane in each direction and as traffic to and from the island increased over time it became a bottleneck.[4] Secondly, it is a vertical-lift bridge. It needs to be raised regularly to allow marine traffic to pass under it, leading to lengthy traffic delays.[5] Before its opening, it was estimated that 26,000 vehicles a day would use the new crossing.[4]

The bridge was designed by Cass Hayward and Capita Symonds, and won the 2007 IStructE Award for Transportation Structures. Around 10,000 tonnes of steel was used in construction, which was carried out by Carillion under a private finance initiative contract,[6] was made more difficult because many of the bridge's piers had to be built on marshland. A jacking mechanism was employed to move the sections of roadway into position from each end of the bridge, with the final two sections of deck (piers 7 and 8 and piers 15, 16, and 17) lifted into place during November 2005.

The bridge was opened on July 3, 2006, by the Minister of Transport, Stephen Ladyman. A competition held to name the new bridge was won by lifelong Sheppey resident Reginald Grimwade, who was then invited to attend the opening ceremony and presented with an award by Ladyman.[7]

Notable incidents

On the morning of 5 September 2013, more than 130 vehicles were involved in a series of shunt crashes on the southbound carriageway of the crossing which at the time was covered in heavy fog.[8] Emergency services were called to the crossing at around 07:15 BST according to Kent Police and the bridge was subsequently closed for nine hours.[9] Inappropriate driving in conditions of very poor visibility was suggested as the cause. There were eight serious injuries and 60 minor injuries, but no life-threatening injuries or deaths.[10][11]

Following the incident, questions were raised over the safety of the unlit bridge with calls for speed restrictions and overhead lights. The AA suggested matrix warning signs "as a minimum".[12]

References

  1. ↑ A. Rohani (23 April 2008), CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHEPPEY CROSSING (PDF), University of Bath, retrieved 9 August 2014
  2. ↑ This is Kent (2011-01-26). "Sheppey crossing cameras will monitor every vehicle in bid to catch criminals". This is Kent. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  3. ↑ "Highways Agency - A249 Iwade Bypass to Queenborough Improvement (part of the A249 Stockbury (M2) to Sheerness DBFO)". Highways.gov.uk. 2010-02-19. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  4. 1 2 "Sheppey Crossing opens to traffic". BBC News. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  5. ↑ "UK | England | Kent | Island's lifeline at halfway mark". BBC News. 2005-05-19. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  6. ↑ New high level bridge boosts jobs
  7. ↑ "Local man names new Swale bridge". BBC News. 21 February 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  8. ↑ "Sheppey crossing crash: Dozens hurt as 130 vehicles crash". BBC News. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  9. ↑ Williams, Rob (2013-09-05). "Sheppey Crossing crash: Police say it is 'truly miraculous' no one was killed in 130-car pile-up". The Independent.
  10. ↑ "Sheppey Crash: 100 Cars Collide On Bridge". Sky News. 2013-09-05. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  11. ↑ "Up to 100 cars crash in pileup on fog-shrouded bridge near London". National Post. 2013-09-05. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  12. ↑ "Sheppey crossing safety calls after 130-vehicle crash". bbc.co.uk. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
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