Severn Bridge

History

The Severn is 354km long which makes it the longest river in Britain. It flows into the Bristol Channel that divides England and Wales.

After the Industrial Revolution people that lived in England that needed to go to Wales and vice versa had to drive a long way round. So in 1824 the first plans came to build a bridge but no action was taken untill for the build.
In 1926 a gentleman named Enoch Williams started a ferry company that would help people cross the Severn river.
It was untill after the second World War that new plans were made for the build of a bridge. They consulted Engineers Messers Mott, Hay & Anderson and Freeman Fox & Partners to design the bridge.
A couple of years went by and it was 1961 when John Howard & co were allowed to start the build of the substructure of the bridge. Two years later they were finished building and the build of the superstructure could start. In 1966 Associated Bridge Builders Ltd. completed the bridge. On the 8th of september 1966 the Queen opened the bridge.

14 years after the grand opening maintanence work began on the bridge, including strenghtening the bridge towers and resurfacing the road.
The bridge is a part of the M48 motor way. Because of the frequent use of the bridge Gloustershire and Monmouthshire County decided to build a new bridge next to the Severn Bridge. They called it M4 second Severn crossing.
Since they build the bridge in the 1990s the original bridge carries about 15000 vehicles a day. This is a huge progress, because before the 1990s the Severn Bridge was used by 50000 vehicles (at it’s peak) a day.

Economic Significance

Since the build of the bridge the connection between England and Wales has been made alot easier for travellers. This also means that people that need to go to work don’t have to drive the long way round, which makes it easier and more attractive to work on the other side of the Bridge. This meant that the jobs that couldn’t be filled in Wales could be filled by workless Englishmen. For Wales this was an economic boost.
If you travel from England to Wales you will have to pay toll.
The toll money goes to the building company who build the new Severn crossing, because they do the maintenance on both bridges