The A19 Tees Viaduct or Tees Flyover is a high level six-lane

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

road bridge in the

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

carrying the main A19 trunk road north–south across the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...

. The bridge is located between

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

just north of the A19's interchange with the A66 trunk road and carries the north–south traffic through Teesside avoiding the main towns but is also used extensively by local traffic. On the southern bank the bridge crosses the marshalling yard railway lines and the main

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

-Middlesbrough section of

Tees Valley Line The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects to via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale. The sect ...

, the B6541 (Old A66/A67, Stockton Road) and the

A66 road The A66 is a major road in Northern England, which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. Route From its eastern termi ...

. On the northern bank the bridge crosses the

Teesdale Way The Teesdale Way is a long-distance walk between the Cumbrian Pennines and the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire in England. The walk is in length; it links in with other long-distance walks such as the Pennine Way and the European walking ro ...

long-distance cycle/footpath, Lustrum Beck, a service road, footpath (disused railway line) and the main roundabout on the Portrack Interchange.

Design

The viaduct is a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

girder A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...

bridge. It has reinforced concrete piers and pier bends supporting steel-plate girder beams and a composite deck with some 200 moving parts. The viaduct is 2.9 km long and 1.95 km between abutments and was at the time the largest such bridge in the British Isles. It has 68 spans on the main north south route—the largest span being that over the river at 117 m. The bridge was designed with sufficient clearance to allow ships to pass, although the port of

up-river was virtually redundant by then. Since the

Tees Newport Bridge The Tees Newport Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge spanning the River Tees a short distance upriver from Tees Transporter Bridge, linking Middlesbrough with the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Northern England. It no longer lifts, but still acts a ...

had its lifting deck permanently fixed in the down position in 1990, large shipping can no longer reach the Tees viaduct, further reducing the need for such a high structure.

Construction

The bridge was built between 1973 and 1975 encompassing the '

Three-Day Week The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom in 1973–1974 by Edward Heath's Conservative government to conserve electricity, the generation of which was severely restricted owing to industrial action by coal ...

' and that may account for some of its subsequent problems.

Operation and maintenance

The viaduct was opened in November 1975. The bridge has had problems with corrosion since it was opened and repairs have been necessary at times. Expansion joints cracked allowing de-icing salts to wash from the bridge carriageway into the piers, cross beams and columns giving rise to extensive chloride attack. It was then decided the best solution was the complete demolition and reconstruction of most of the piers and repair of others. The bridge was originally constructed with two-lane carriageways and a concrete apron up to the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

but this was expanded to three lanes. From 1988 to 1989 the underside of the bridge was enclosed with a steel and GRP panelling structure to protect the primary structure from the effects of weather and to allow safe and easy inspection and maintenance. The A19 including the Tees Viaduct is operated by Autolink Concessionaires (A19) Limited, a consortium comprising

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...

Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival George Wimpey to create Tayl ...

and Amey under a thirty-year

DBFO The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

(Design Build Finance Operate) agreement with the

Highways Agency National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all fo ...

running from 1997 to 2027. The bridge carried an average of 112,000 vehicles a day in 2016 and concerns that the capacity of the road is being exceeded at peak times has led to a study detailing the proposals for a new crossing. Because of this

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

cameras were installed on the bridge to record incident related congestion and to enable a quicker response.

Starting in 1997 the approach roads to the bridge were widened from two lanes to three. A detailed principal inspection report in 2006 concluded that the Tees Viaduct overall is in fair condition.

Image gallery

References

External links

Bridges on the Tyne
* . {{Navboxes , list1= {{Geographic location , Northwest = , North = Portrack Meadows
Wildlife Reserve , Northeast =

, West = Portrack Marsh
Nature Reserve , Centre = {{center, Tees Viaduct
over the

, East =

, Southwest = Maze Park
Nature Reserve , South = , Southeast = {{Crossings navbox , structure =

Crossings Crossings may refer to: * ''Crossings'' (Buffy novel), a 2002 original novel based on the U.S. television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' * Crossings (game), a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Robert Abbott * ''Crossings'' ...

, place =

, bridge = A19 Tees Viaduct
(Tees Flyover) , upstream =

Tees Barrage The Tees Barrage is a barrage and road bridge across the River Tees, Northern England, just upriver of Blue House Point and is used to control the flow of the river, preventing flooding and the effects of tidal change. It is between the towns ...

, downstream =

(Newport Bridge) {{Stockton {{Middlesbrough Bridges in County Durham Bridges in North Yorkshire Crossings of the River Tees Buildings and structures in Middlesbrough Bridges completed in 1975 Transport in Middlesbrough Buildings and structures in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees