The Orwell Bridge, Ipswich celebrated its 30th birthday last month. It took three years to complete the 1.2 kilometres span at a cost of £24 million, peanuts against current prices.
When the bridge opened it transformed the town removing lengthy detours. If the bridge has to be closed due to high winds or an accident the effects are soon apparent and Ipwich quickly becomes gridlocked.
Consultants Halcrow and Dutch company Steven Construction BV started work on the bridge in Octobder 1979. This involved sinking piles 40 metres into the river bed. The concrete box sections were erected on each bank and first linked together in the summer of 1982. Vehicles first began using the bridge on 17 December that year.
The bridge has 19 sets of supports carrying spans of 59 metres and technically there are two bridges with a few inches between them. Bearings allow the bridge to expand by two feet in hot weather. These were recently replaced in a complex operation which reqired the sections being jacked up to remove them, yet traffic continued crossing unhindered. This vital maintenance work was carried out by local company Jackson Civil Engineering.
It may appear solid but the bridge is in fact hollow allowing two box vans to be parked side by side. It is possible to walk inside from one side of the bridge to the other. This and access doors to each pillar facilitate maintenance. The interior also carry water pipes, telephone and electricity cables across the river.
The bridge was carefully styled to fit in with its surroundings, and is aligned on a skew across the river for optimum visual impact. Alternative designs for a suspension bridge or steel girder bridge and even a tunnel were rejected. The chosen design was awarded Royal Fine Arts approval. A family of Peregrine Falcons has taken up residence, the first to breed in Suffolk for 200 years.
In June 2007 ICE placed a plaque on the bridge celebrating its first 25 years. It was unveiled by 2006-7 ICE President Professor Quentin Leiper and widely covered by regional media. The unveiling was attended by some of the team responsible for bulding the bridge. The plaque is attached to a pillar near the riverside on the west bank.