M25 Runnymede Bridge
| M25 Runnymede Bridge | |
| Buckinghamshire | |
|---|---|
 The bridge from the southern towpath immediately downstream | |
| Location | |
| Carrying: | M25 motorway A30 road |
| Location | |
| Location: | 51°26’15"N, -0°32’5"W |
| Structure | |
| Design: | Arch |
| Material: | M25 Concrete A30 Brick |
| History | |
| Information | |
The M25 Runnymede Bridge is a motorway, A-road and pedestrian and cycle bridge built in the 1960s, 1980s and expanded in the 2000s carrying the M25 and A30 across the River Thames in Buckinghamshire. It is situated in the very south-east of the county, near the uppermost end of the Staines and Egham reach of the Thames. It is oriented north–south and is south-west of Heathrow Airport.
It one of three bridges carrying motorway traffic across the Thames, the others being the M3 Chertsey Bridge and the M4 Thames Bridge, Maidenhead.
History
Runnymede Bridge
In part designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1940s this is a single-span arch bridge built of brick opened in 1961 to carry the A30's Staines Bypass,[1][2] near the uppermost end of the Staines and Egham reach of river above Penton Hook Lock and below Bell Weir Lock. It is an arch bridge which is specifically of the spandrel arch design supported by two outer walls (spandrels) in red brick infilled with looser material such as gravel. Until the 2013 construction of the present Walton Bridge this was the first single span (without piers) across the River Thames heading upstream from the river's mouth.[1]
New Runnymede Bridge
The New Runnymede Bridge forming its eastern half was designed by Ove Arup and built in 1978[3] to complement the earlier western half of the crossing, also simply named the Runnymede Bridge.[1][4] It is a single arch bridge of approximately the same form, but is made up of a series of parallel concrete frames: these allow light to penetrate upwards underneath and transfer loads vertically to avoid disturbing the foundations of the westerly bridge companion. In the first decade of the 21st century the motorway bridge was widened to five lanes each way, the widest in Britain.
See also
Notes and references
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about M25 Runnymede Bridge) |
- Notes
- References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "M25 Bridges". Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20120829180311/http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/m25papers4.htm.
- ↑ "Runnymede Bridge". https://structurae.net/structures/runnymede-bridge. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ↑ Peter Jones (2006). Ove Arup: Masterbuilder of the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press. pp. 310–. ISBN 0-300-11296-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ACoL299r2EC&pg=PA310-IA1.
- ↑ OS Map with Listed Structures nearby (not including the bridge as it is not listed) and official names marked