New Destructor Bridge Opens in Bath


The long awaited bridge is ready to take on traffic.


As part of the regeneration of Bath Riverside, the Destructor Bridge was built. The 400-tonne structure is an elegant 48m long asymmetric steel tied arch bridge with two box girders. It will accommodate a two-lane highway for vehicles, a wider pedestrian walkway, and a cycleway, and will provide improved access to the development area.

The new bridge, Designed by Flint & Neill (rebranded as COWI on 1 January, 2017) and Knight Architects, and constructed by Britannia Construction, connects the revitalised area of Bath Western Riverside with the A4 Upper Bristol Road spanning over the River Avon. 

The new structure replaces a truss bridge that was built almost 150 years ago and no longer able to serve the needs of the community regarding traffic concerns. The Victorian structure was dismantled in April last year with the replacement bridge moving into position last summer.

‘The design incorporates a single eccentric arch due to the proximity of the building soon to be built at the south east corner of the bridge, and this generated some interesting engineering challenges in the design’, said Ian Firth, Project Director at Flint & Neill.

‘There is a wide box girder under the west side which works together with the arch to resist the tendency for the bridge to twist with traffic load on one side only. This unusual arrangement demanded careful treatment in the design, but we have been able to keep the bridge looking very slender, with the clean elegant lines desired by the architects.’

The bridge has been opened to pedestrian and cycle traffic and will open to vehicles in 2017.

Sam White, Senior Designer at Knight Architects said: ‘The City of Bath is a globally renowned UNESCO world heritage site. This was a unique opportunity to build its first new crossing of the River Avon in the City Centre for over 100 years and one which we hope will be both a new landmark for the Bath Western Riverside development and a destination for people using the river corridor.’

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