River Tyne - Scotswood Road Bridge (1967)
View of Scotswood Bridge from Keelman's Way looking up river.

Scotswood Bridge was started in 1964 and is a "Tied Arch" Suspension bridge.
It has a 330-feet steel arch span with a suspended box girder deck.

The curved ribs were tied by steel cables that were subject to corrosion and these had to be
replaced with tie bars. Following some fatal collapses in other bridges of this type in Wales,
Germany, and Australia it was restricted to single file for 30 months from June 1971.

Work to strengthen it cost £440,000, 25% of the original cost to build only 5 years earlier.

No sooner had these emergency repairs been completed than more work was required causing
more delays between 1979 and 1980. More money was spent and more delays happened in 1983
and the final insult was when the whole thing was shut for several months in 1990,
except to pedestrians / cyclists and must have made it the largest cycle bridge in the UK !!!

The bridge was originally designed to have six lanes but to save money the bridge was only
built to a four lane width - a monumental shortsight in view of todays heavy traffic flows.

The link route between Hadrian's Cycleway NCN 72 and The Keelmans Way NCN 14
across the bridge uses a shared use pavement on the east - downstream side..

It was opened on 20th March, 1967.

Cost £1.7 million

Scotwood Chain Bridge (1910)

Scotswood Bridge (1831)

More than 5,000 people turned out for the opening of the first Scotswood Suspension Bridge, completed on April 16, 1831 at a cost of £ 15,000. Designed by John and Benjamin Green of Newcastle, two graceful piers were constructed in the Norman style of architecture to accommodate the elegant structure.

The distance between the points of suspension was 370 feet with two half arcs of 130 feet each with the total length of the bridge being 670 feet. There were four suspending chains consisting of flat steel bars with strong connecting bolts.

Originally a toll bridge the charges stopped when Newcastle Corporation purchased it in 1905 for the sum of £36,300.