Newport City Footbridge

Region

United Kingdom

Associated With

Grimshaw - architect

Defining Feature

Four west-bank masts supporting a 145-metre deck

Status

Unknown - completed in 2006

Overview

Newport City Footbridge carries walkers and cyclists across the River Usk in Newport, South Wales.

Completed in 2006, it linked the east bank with the city centre as part of Newport’s accessibility strategy. Four masts, arranged in pairs on the west bank, support its 145-metre deck.

Prefabricated components were assembled on site through a lifting sequence lasting just over a week. The arrangement allowed construction without temporary works in the tidal riverbed.

Why It Mattered

An early decision to keep temporary works out of the river helped rule out an arch and directed the design towards masts and cables. The resulting crane-like form also referred to the site’s former trading wharves. The crossing joined a practical construction constraint with a deliberate reference to Newport’s riverfront history.

Crossing the Usk

• The bridge was planned as a pedestrian and cycle connection from Newport’s east bank to the city centre.
• It formed part of an accessibility strategy associated with Newport Unlimited’s city-centre master plan.
• Grimshaw records the project as complete in 2006.

Structure and Layout

• Four masts on west-bank structures support the 145-metre deck.
• The deck was erected in five principal elements.
• The steel-industry case study gives a five-metre deck width and 4.1-metre clearance above mean high tide; Grimshaw describes the clearance above mean tide.

Fabrication and Erection

• Fabrication began in August 2005, with on-site pre-assembly beginning in January 2006.
• The erection sequence lasted a little over one week; this was not the full project programme.
• The bank-side support arrangement avoided temporary works in the tidal riverbed.

Gallery