Teesquay Millennium Footbridge facts for kids

Teesquay Millennium Footbridge
Quick facts for kidsTeesquay Millennium Footbridge
	Teesquay Millennium Footbridge
Coordinates	54°33′44.5″N 1°18′35.2″W / 54.562361°N 1.309778°W
Carries	Pedestrians
Crosses	Teesdale Way,; River Tees,; Riverside Road
Locale	Stockton-on-Tees, England
Official name	Teesquay Millennium Footbridge
Preceded by	Victoria Bridge
Followed by	Princess of Wales Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Material	Steel and concrete
Width	2.7 metres (9 ft)
Number of spans	4
Piers in water	1
History
Architect	Yee Associates
Designer	Ove Arup
Constructed by	Birse Construction
Construction end	December 2000
Inaugurated	20 December 2000

Teesquay Millennium Footbridge is a footbridge crossing east-west over the River Tees, in Stockton-on-Tees in the Northeast of England. The bridge links Teesdale Business Park and the University of Durham, Queen's Campus in Thornaby-on-Tees to the Castlegate (shopping) Centre in Stockton-on-Tees High Street. The bridge crosses the Teesdale Way cycle route, River Tees and the A1035 Riverside Road. Funding for the bridge was from Stockton-on-Tees Council, the European Regional Development Fund, One NorthEast and English Partnerships.

Teesquay Millennium Footbridge is also referred to as the Millennium Bridge.

Design

Stockton Borough Council provided a brief for a 'design and build' competition to construct a pedestrian bridge across the River Tees. The 'design and build' competition was won by a team comprising Ove Arup and Birse Construction. Their entry was the only one to satisfy the local council's strictly limited budget.

The bridge has a cable-stayed design with architecture by Yee Associates and designed by Ove Arup whereas the identification signage on the bridge states that it was designed by the constructor, Birse Construction. It has a 40-metre (131 ft) 'A' frame pylon/mast with fanned cables and has a total span of 153 m (502 ft). The walkway is 2.7 m (9 ft) wide narrowing to 2 m (7 ft) on the extension over Riverside Road to the Castlegate Centre.

Construction

The bridge was fabricated in Spain, constructed on site by Birse Construction North East and completed in December 2000 at a cost of £1.4m.

Operation

The bridge was opened on 20 December 2000 by Dari Taylor, Member of Parliament for Stockton South, and the mayor of Stockton-on-Tees. The Teesgate Millennium Footbridge was one of the few number of millennium footbridges to be actually completed in the millennium year, but unlike some high-profile millennium footbridges it was not funded by the Millennium Commission.

The bridge has been criticised for both wobbling and being too narrow to accommodate cyclists who are required to dismount and are barred from entering the Castlegate Centre in any case.