Runnymede Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°26′15″N 0°32′05″W / 51.43750°N 0.53472°W |
| Carries | M25 motorway A30 road |
| Crosses | River Thames |
| Locale | Staines |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Arch |
| Material | Encased steel |
| Height | 23 feet 0 inches (7.01 m)[1] |
| No. of spans | 1 |
| History | |
| Designer | Edwin Lutyens |
| Location | |
 | |
Runnymede Bridge forms one of the two bridges making up the M25 Runnymede Bridge; it was constructed in 1961 as part of the Staines by-pass. A later New Runnymede Bridge was built in 1978 alongside and dowstream, to provide for M25 traffic. The Runnymede bridge now carries northbound A30 and M25 traffic, whilst the new bridge carries southbound traffic.
The Staines by-pass project was commissioned in the 1930s, and Edwin Lutyens was appointed to provide an architectural design for the bridge. Lutyens was an architect of great fame, with a large catalogue of high-profile constructions to his name, notably, in this context, the The Cenotaph and Thiepval Memorial, but also a string of acclaimed country houses and public buildings. Runnymede and its water-meadows have long been regarded as of national importance, as the site of the signing of the Magna Carta; the architectural design of bridge and its fit with its surroundings, including Bell Weir Lock, was considered of paramount importance. The imposition of a by-pass across such a site would not have been without considerable controversy. Lutyens was, presumably, thought eminently qualified to produce a fitting and respectful design. He completed his plans by 1939, but World War 2 intervened and the project was postponed, not to be revivified until 1958 long after Lutyens' death.
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 near the uppermost end of the Staines upon Thames and Egham reach of river. It is oriented north–south and is southwest of Heathrow Airport. It consists of the Runnymede Bridge and the New Runnymede Bridge; commonly referred to as one bridge.
It one of three which carry motorways across the Thames, the others being the M3 Chertsey Bridge and the M4 Thames Bridge, Maidenhead.
History edit
Runnymede Bridge edit
Runnymede Bridge is a multi-span arch bridge at the uppermost end of the Staines upon Thames and Egham Reach of the River Thames: above Penton Hook Lock and below Bell Weir Lock. It opened in 1961 to carry the A30's Staines Bypass.[2][3]
Designs for the bridge were completed by 1939 by Sir Edwin Lutyens in concert with consulting engineer H Fitzsimons. World War II intervened, delaying construction by 20 years; Lutyens having died in 1944, his colleague George Stewart served as consulting architect, adopting the 1939 design. The bridge has a single span of 173.5 feet (52.9 m) across the Thames with 18 encased steel arches bearing the load of a concrete deck. There are two smaller spans, on land, at the abutments, taking the total length to 415 feet (126 m). As built, it had a width of 100 feet (30 m). The architectural treatment of the bridge was considered of great importance because of its proximity to Runnymede (the water-meadow) and the structure is finished with hand-made brick facings, white cement and Portland stone.[4] Until the 2013 reconstruction of Walton Bridge this was the first single-span bridge (i.e. without piers) over the Thames upstream, there being none in London or the estuary.[2]
New Runnymede Bridge edit
The New Runnymede Bridge forming its eastern half was designed by Ove Arup and built in 1978[5] to complement the earlier western half of the crossing, also simply named the Runnymede Bridge.[2][6] 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 edit
Notes and references edit
- Notes
- References
- ^ River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c "M25 Bridges". The Motorway Archive. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012.
- ^ "Runnymede Bridge". Structurae. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ Cracknell, Donald William (July 1963). "The Runnymede Bridge". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 25 (3): 325–344. doi:10.1680/iicep.1963.10592.
- ^ Peter Jones (2006). Ove Arup: Masterbuilder of the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press. pp. 310–. ISBN 0-300-11296-3.
- ^ OS Map with Listed Structures nearby (not including the bridge as it is not listed) and official names marked Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
