Window to the World, calling for Wind of Wisdom, as common sense is a gift to each soul, as common environment is the inseparable planet, as common desire is to live in a better world.
184-m-long double-leaf swing bridge connects banks across long-divided Scottish river, “as much a machine as a structure”
The local port authority required 90 meters by 45 meters of space under any prospective bridge for vessels to access offshore oil rigs nearby. Countering, the airport set a height ceiling on vertical structures at 40 meters, and space restrictions on both banks of the Clyde prevented a more traditional single-leaf swing bridge.
The project is jointly funded by the UK and Scottish governments through the £1.13bn Glasgow City Region—a coalition of 8 local governments around Glasgow.
Intricate 184-m-long double-leaf swing bridge in Scotland
As much a machine as a structure, its twin halves were built separately in Belgium and Netherlands and barged, complete with stressed stay cables, to the River Clyde, near Glasgow.
Rotating on vast cylindrical slewing bearings on either riverbank, the bridge’s two decks are to project 65 m toward each other over the river. Their 27-m-long back spans incorporate 500 metric tons of counterweights. “I would say it’s the most complicated moveable bridge I’ve ever designed, and I’ve designed a lot of these things,” says Tampa, Fla.-based Jim Phillips, lead bridge designer with Hardesty & Hanover LLC (H&H).
