Local History - Runcorn Bridge

Here are some photographs from May 1961, showing the "new" Runcorn Bridge nearing completion. It was re-named the Silver Jubilee Bridge after roadway widening in 1977. Click on these (external) links for Wikipedia pages about the Silver Jubilee Bridge and its predecessors, the Runcorn Transporter Bridge and the Runcorn Railway Bridge.

The railway lines and pedestrian walkway of the Runcorn Railway Bridge (1868) on the north (Widnes) side, looking south, with the new bridge to its left and the old Transporter Bridge (1905) further left

A view from the pedestrian walkway of the railway bridge, showing the new bridge under construction and one tower of the Transporter Bridge behind. The schoolboy in the foreground (then 13) was much later to become the editor of the Acton Bridge website.

The southern (Runcorn) springing of the new bridge, with a shed belonging to the prime engineering contractor, Dorman Long & Sons, beside the Manchester Ship Canal

A view looking north between the new and Transporter bridges, with the Manchester Ship Canal just over the fence in the foreground. You can see the travelling "transporter" car skimming above the river between the two towers, suspended from a moving trolley. This design gave 25m headroom for sailing ships on the Mersey and Ship Canal, without the expense of a fixed, high arch and long approach ramps, but could only carry a limited volume of road traffic.

Prior to the opening of these bridges, as Philip A. reminds me, there was a passenger ferry "at tuppence per person per trip", immortalised in the rhyming monologue by Marriott Edgar, 1933, made famous by Stanley Holloway, which you can read here.

Wikipedia pages about the Silver Jubilee Bridge, Runcorn Transporter Bridge and Runcorn Railway Bridge