A. Bishopthorpe Bridge (River Ouse Bridge) York England (1971-76)
Figure 1: Model of the bridge
The River Ouse Bridge was the first reasonably sized
bridge on which I had a chance to deploy my newly
acquired knowledge of prestressed concrete. Of
course it was not just about the engineering but also
the environment and looks of the bridge that made it
an exciting bridge to work on under the leadership of
Jorgen Nissen.
It is near the Archbishop of York’s Palace and carries
the A64 Bypass across the river at about 45° skew
angle to the alignment of the river, as shown in the
model, Figure 1. There are bridle paths on both banks
of the river frequented by hikers and visitors to the
Palace. The local authority wanted a bridge that
would be in keeping with the Palace and invited Arup
to design the bridge.
Figure 2: Undulating earthworks around the abutments
1/2018
With its low height the bridge would have been an
unwelcome visual intrusion into the open and
pleasant aspect of the river. In order to overcome the
visual intrusion the abutments of the bridge are set
well back from the river´s edge with landscaped
undulating earthworks around the abutments, Figure
2. So as not to visually overwhelm the pedestrians
walking along the river banks, the box girders carrying
each carriageway are separated and have a curved
parabolic soffit. The parabolic soffit visually reduces
the mass of the box girders, and separation between
them allows sunlight to filter through and lighten
what would otherwise have been a dark unwelcome
space below the bridge, Figure 3.
Figure 3: Parabolic soffit and separation of box girders
makes a lighter space under the bridge