River Itchen floating bridge
End of the floating bridge
The floating bridge across the River Itchen survived the Second
World War, but was becoming outdated. Traffic across the river was
increasing and the floating bridge could not cope. 
 Itchen Bridge under construction
alongside floating bridge |
Planning a new bridge
Planning for a fixed bridge started in 1936, but it was not until
1960 that detailed plans were published. Unfortunately the
government refused to fund it, saying that the new bridge was only
a `local convenience`. Instead they funded a new motorway (the M27)
between Southampton and Portsmouth. The floating bridge struggled on. Its ferries were in a poor
state of repair and had very limited capacity to transport
vehicles. The areas of Chapel and Woolston now suffered from
planning blight - companies were unwilling to build there because
of the uncertainty over the new bridge. The situation changed in the 1970s, when reorganisation of local
government meant the decision to go ahead with a bridge would be
taken away from Southampton council. Plans were quickly drawn up
and the contract to build the bridge was awarded to Kier Ltd in
1974. 
Itchen Bridge viewed from
Woolston |
Opening the Itchen Toll Bridge
The Itchen Bridge opened on 1st June 1977. Costing £5.7 million
(over £36 million today), the high-level concrete bridge carries
two lanes of traffic at a height of 24 m above the river. The
distance between its two central pillars is 107 m. Tolls are
charged for vehicles crossing the bridge - a car journey currently
costs 60p. Nearly 600,000 vehicles a month use the bridge to cross
the river - many more than were ever accommodated on the floating
bridge. Ten days after the fixed bridge opened, the floating bridge
sailed for the final time. Over the 141 years of its existence,
thirteen different barges had sailed across the river. The final
barge was numbered 14 to avoid any bad luck! One of the
decommissioned ferries was turned into a nightclub. Reaction to the closing of the floating
bridge
The story of Woolston is linked with its floating bridge. Local
people had different views about its demise and the opening of the
new bridge. The long approach roads to the new bridge meant that
many houses had to be demolished and families relocated away from
the area. Others remember the fun they had on the bridge: "If we had a day
off we used to go on the floating bridge and stay on it for hours.
If anybody asked where you had been you`d say, `Oh, we`ve been on
our holidays`, just to see the boats go up and down the river." It may not have been the quickest or most luxurious way of
crossing the river, but few who travelled on the noisy,
old-fashioned ferry can deny that it had a special sort of
magic.
|
