Surtees Bridge
| Surtees Bridge | |
| County Durham, Yorkshire | |
|---|---|
 Surtees Bridge over the River Tees | |
| Location | |
| Carrying: | A66 road |
| Crossing: | River Tees |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NZ44681790 |
| Location: | 54°33’16"N, 1°18’38"W |
| Structure | |
| Length: | 492 feet Main span: 164 feet |
| Design: | slab and girder |
| Material: | reinforced concrete and steel plate girder |
| History | |
| Built 2006-2007 | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | National Highways |
The Surtees Bridge is a road bridge carrying the A66(T) road east to west across the River Tees, between the North Riding of Yorkshire on the south bank and County Durham on the north. The bridge crosses the river near Thornaby-on-Tees (Yorkshire).
The bridge is half a miles upriver of Stockton-on-Tees town centre and just upriver of the Surtees Rail Bridge, a rail bridge carrying the Tees Valley Line. Built at a cost of £14.3 million,[1] the bridge replaces an earlier Surtees Bridge (1981) that showed signs of distress resulting from excessive settlement.
The Surtees Bridge and the A1(M) motorway bridge are the busiest over the River Tees, with 55,000 vehicles a day.[2]
The river level at this point is held at 9 feet above datum by the Tees Barrage, which makes the river here permanently navigable.[3][4]
The Surtees Bridge (1981)
The original Surtees Bridge built in 1981 was a concrete and steel structure with dual two-lane carriageways, four intermediate piers, five spans and was 476 feet long with 410 feet between abutments.[3][4][5][6]
The bridge was opened in 1981 with a design life of 120 years.[3][7] Geotechnical surveys prior to construction had indicated that the western approaches of the bridge would be liable to settlement and so they were built in early 1978 under a separate works contract and left to settle for 18–24 months before bridge construction started. It was insufficient: even as the bridge opened in 1981, signs of distress were already showing.[3][7] Later surveys showed the eastern abutment had rotated and moved by 100–150 mm and sunk 0.7 m, and the bridge bearings had overrun by 100 mm.[3][4]
The bridge problems were caused by underestimations of the depth of the soft alluvial layers on the eastern bank, and secondly overestimation of the rate at which the ground would consolidate during construction which led to the assumption that the settlement of the eastern abutment would be largely over by the time the abutment was complete – instead significant settlement was to continue on after construction.[3]
The Highways Agency therefore decided on a rebuild, with a wider bridge and with sufficient load-bearing to take the new 40 ton heavy goods vehicles.
The Surtees Bridge (2008)
The present Surtees Bridge is built on the same alignment as the 1981 Surtees Bridge.
The bridge is 492 feet long and approximately 410 feet between abutments,[5] with three lane dual carriageways and a pedestrian and cycle track.[1][8] The bridge is a slab and girder design constructed from reinforced concrete and steel plate girders. It has three spans – the centre span being 164 feet and the two side spans 157 feet.[2][5][6]
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Under the western span of the Surtees Bridge -
The eastern pier
Each river pier is supported on 22 1220 mm diameter bored case piles finishing with a 3 m socket drilled into sandstone bedrock and the piles are topped with four precast concrete caps produced on site.[4]
A total of 2,000 tons of steel were used in the bridge's design.[5]
Pictures
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Surtees Bridge) |
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Outside links
- Surtees Bridge: Bridges on the Tyne
- Surtees Bridge at Structurae
- Road Traffic Technology
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A66 Surtees Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees: TransportXtra, 13 Septemer 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "A66 delay blamed on weather". thisisthenortheast.co.uk. 5 June 2007. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1447126.A66_delay_blamed_on_weather/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Jones, C.A.; Stewart, D.I.; Danilewicz, C.J. (April 2008). "Bridge Distress Caused by Approach Embankment Settlement". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering 161 (GE2): 63–74. doi:10.1680/geng.2008.161.2.63. http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/4769/1/Bridge_distress_caused_by_approach_embankment_settlement.pdf. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Greeman, Adrian (21 June 2007). "Bridging the Gap". New Civil Engineer. http://www.nce.co.uk/bridging-the-gap/72339.article. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Millins, Victoria (November 2006). "Bridge replacement tests builders skills" (PDF). Transportation Professional. p. 19. http://www.ciht.org.uk/download.cfm/docid/0D81A3E9-6DE9-43CB-94833E2B220DCBF2.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "A66 Surtees bridge, Teesside". TransportXtra. 27 March 2006. Archived from the original. Template:Citation error. https://web.archive.org/web/20111008033812/http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/local_transport_today/news/?ID=5090.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Danilewicz, Chris; Rice, Graham (12 November 2008). "Surtees Bridge Failure". Institute of Structural Engineers. http://www.ice-northwest.org.uk/northwest/documents/Surtees_Bridge_12_November_2008.pdf. Template:Dead link
- ↑ "Bridge Replaced as Drivers Cross". BBC News. 6 June 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/6725949.stm.
| Bridges and crossings on the River Tees | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarm Bridge | Preston Pipe Bridge | Jubilee Bridge | Surtees Bridge | Surtees Rail Bridge | Victoria Bridge | Millennium Footbridge |