Facts about the bridge
Contract type: 30-year design, build, finance and operate;
A PPP Project financed by a mix of private and government lending;
An estimated 4,640 new jobs through direct employment, regeneration activity and inward investment;
An estimated £61.9 million a year in Gross Value Added by new jobs by 2030;
Crosses the river around 1,500m to the east of the Silver Jubilee Bridge;
60,000 vehicles to use the bridge every day are expected i.e. nearly 22 million vehicles every year;
A tolled crossing with a speed limit of 60mph (95km);
With three lanes across the Mersey in each direction;
Forms the centrepiece of a new and improved high standard link road (9.500m long) connecting the
national motorway network in north Cheshire with Merseyside.
2. PROCUREMENT AND ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH
The wider project to develop the new Mersey
Crossing together with improvements to the
approach road network on either side was progressed
by Halton Borough Council with a focus on
maintaining high quality design whilst ensuring that
the scheme was affordable.
The Council set out a list of strategic objectives aiming
at regeneration and improvement of life quality which
were subsequently defined in a set of relevant design
and access policies as part of development plan. It
was started in 2005 with the Planning Policy
Statement 1.
For this purpose the Council employed a specialist
consultant, Knight Architects, and in 2006 following
the initial works started their collaboration with HBC,
when extensive studies on both structural design and
visual impact were analysed by Gifford/Ramboll and
Knight Architects.
Figures 3 +4: Plan showing general arrangement of the bridge (above) and Early stage elevation (below)
3/2017