Mersey Gateway: Britain's newest £600m bridge opens to traffic

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-41586131

Mersey Gateway opens to traffic: Britain's newest £600m bridge

Liverpool's third bridge across the River Mersey opens with firework display

A fireworks and lights show has heralded the opening of a new £600m toll bridge over the River Mersey. Expected to cost £1.9bn until 2044, the Mersey Gateway route is the largest infrastructure project in England outside London, a spokesman said.

The bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire opened after midnight. The government said tolls would be dropped once the costs were paid but campaigners said the charges would hit residents and local businesses.

Building work on the six-lane bridge, which is the second crossing between Runcorn and Widnes, began in 2014. The 1.5-mile (2.2km) link forms the centrepiece in a project of improvements on a 9.2km route in the borough of Halton. The total cost of the route - including construction, maintenance and operation - is estimated to be £1.9bn until 2044, a spokesman for the Mersey Gateway Project said.

Hugh O'Connor, general manager at Merseylink, added the bridge was "opening on time and on budget" and paid tribute to those "who worked so hard to make that happen". Officials hope it will ease congestion on the nearby Silver Jubilee Bridge while improving access to jobs and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Britain's second newest bridge after the recently opened Queensferry Crossing which connects Edinburgh and Fife. Both bridges are virtually identical in design although the Queensferry Crossing is longer than the Mersey Gateway - the Firth of Forth is crossed by two bridges but the River Mersey by three bridges and two tunnels.

We tend to use the two tunnels under the Mersey as Liverpool city centre is closer to the tunnels than the bridges. If you use the bridges you tend to only if you're travelling to Manchester or Cheshire in general tbh.

No word yet on who will officially open the bridge... would think it would be The Queen like she opened the Queensferry Crossing but no sign of it. Liverpool Echo says early spring the official opening so maybe then!

Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

1.9bn on a 2.3 mile bridge across an area that already has two bridges and causing negative financial implications on the nearby residents as well as anyone who wants to use it, ridiculous. Makes 48bn for a 470 mile railway (HS2) look like peanuts

[-:Undertaker:-]

1.9bn on a 2.3 mile bridge across an area that already has two bridges and causing negative financial implications on the nearby residents as well as anyone who wants to use it, ridiculous. Makes 48bn for a 470 mile railway (HS2) look like peanuts

I don't think it is bad at all for a city area of 2.3 million, especially compared to the spending London in terms of infrastructure projects and the fact that north of Birmingham the whole country needs re-connecting transport wise. One of the bridges is railway only, and the Silver Jubilee Bridge is over capacity. I don't mind state spending when it's on projects like these which produce something useful!

I agree on the tolling though, we pay enough in road tax for this to be paid for out of that budget. HS2 should be spent on reversing the Dr Beeching cuts and re-opening the old railway lines which lay dormant across the north of England, Scotland and Wales.

Below for reference is the Silver Jubilee Bridge (green metal arch) and the Britannia Bridge (stone arches).

[FlyingJesus]

Never mind the 12 million plus who live in London Birmingham Manchester and Leeds or anyone else who might commute, those aren't important because they're not you

[-:Undertaker:-]

Never mind the 12 million plus who live in London Birmingham Manchester and Leeds or anyone else who might commute, those aren't important because they're not you

Why are you getting your knickers in a twist? Didn't I just say everywhere north of Birmingham needs investment?

And didn't I say we don't use the bridges anyway because we closer to the city centre...

[FlyingJesus]

Just think it's hilarious that you're in favour of this yet so massively opposed to HS2, which I don't support but can at least see a use for. This is just a £2bn bypass

[-:Undertaker:-]

Just think it's hilarious that you're in favour of this yet so massively opposed to HS2, which I don't support but can at least see a use for. This is just a £2bn bypass

So basically you're saying that because i'm against one infrastructure project I therefore have to be against them all. Right...

[FlyingJesus]

Well no, but a Liverpool-Manchester bypass is an enormous waste of an enormous amount of money for the benefit of very few, so the comparison to HS2 is quite reasonable.