Bridge offers city traffic relief

The bridge will be welded together when it meets

The skyline of Wales' youngest city is to change from Wednesday after a new bridge is erected as part of a major road development.

A 187 metre long bowstring arch bridge is being constructed across the River Usk in Newport.

It is part of the city's new £55m Southern Distributor Road (SDR) project which is the biggest local authority private finance initiative scheme in Wales.

Due to be completed in Autumn 2004, the SDR will relieve congestion along one of the busiest stretches of the M4 around the city.

The bridge, which will be 31.4 metres wide and 29 metres high along the roadway, is made from 3,200 tonnes of steel.

About 3,600 tonnes of concrete and 1,100 tonnes of surfacing has been used.

The pieces of the bridge will be welded together on the riverbank creating two halves of a steel deck.

The bridge will be a major part of the SDR road

They will then be put into position across the Usk and joined together in the middle.

The deck will be supported by 34 cables which will hang from the arch part of the construction.

Councillor Graham Dally, the cabinet member for transport and sustainable development said: "This is an exciting time as work on the bridge is something of a central point on the progress of the SDR.

"The bridge is a real combination of the old and new.

"It brings together Corus steel to signify the city's steel making heritage, alongside the technological approach being taken in construction which is symbolic of the city's future," he added.

The position of the bridge will be between the George Street bridge, built in 1964 and the Transporter bridge, which dates from 1906.

Brian Kemp, Newport Council's head of engineering and construction said the bridge would provide an easier route into the southern side of the city.

"It is something we desperately need for Newport," he said.

"And the bridge is ideally placed to see both the George Street bridge and the Transporter bridge from a completely different view point," he added.

Traffic congestion

The multimillion pound project is expected to stretch 10 km and is an attempt to relieve the heavy congestion on Newport's roads.

The road will stretch from the busy Coldra roundabout at junction 24 of the M4 in the east to the Pont Ebbw roundabout in the west which links up with junction 28.

Booming industrial areas to the south and west of the River Usk have brought with them a growth in the city's traffic and residential areas have suffered as a result.

The work is being carried out by private contractors Morgan Vinci, who have been appointed by the council to design, build and operate the road over the next 40 years.