The Govan-Partick Bridge is a new bridge in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, to carry pedestrians and bicycles across the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

, connecting Water Row in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

to Pointhouse Quay in

Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...

, close to the

Riverside Museum The Riverside Museum (replacing the preceding Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, housed in a building designed by Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects, with its River Clyde frontage at the new Point ...

. To allow ships including PS ''Waverley'' to pass by, its

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

main span can rotate to align with the south shore. The official opening ceremony on 6 September 2024 was followed by public access from the next day, when crowds celebrated with community events on both sides of the river. The bridge with its wide deck has step-free access, to carry bicycles, pedestrians, wheelchairs and buggies between Govan south of the river and Partick to the north. The V-shaped pylon design is inspired by the historic cranes at the riverside. It is one of the largest opening footbridges in Europe. The work is intended to improve the economic conditions in Govan (which is a deprived area of the city) and is linked to the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

-led "West End Innovation Quarter". The bridge lands at Water Row in Govan where a mixed use development of housing and commercial space is planned.

History

The bridge cost £29.5 million. It was funded through the Glasgow City Region

City Deal City Deals are an initiative enacted by the UK government in 2012 to promote economic growth and infrastructure while ultimately shifting control of decisions away from the central government to local authorities. City Deals are generally set for t ...

, a pot to which the UK and

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

s each provided £500M, and local authorities provided a further £130M. The

led project was expected to start in 2020, with the bridge to open in summer 2021. In February 2020, the final plans for the bridge were revealed with an updated opening year of 2022. After further delays, construction finally began in January 2022, and opened on 6 September 2024. The cafe on the second floor of the Riverside Museum has had a clear unobstructed view over the northern approach works area at the mouth of the River Kelvin to the site of the new bridge. Museum cafe window view of works area at the mouth of the River Kelvin. The bridge was built in Belgium, taken by canal to

Westdorpe Westdorpe is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Terneuzen, and lies about 31 km southeast of Vlissingen. History The village was first mentioned in 1545 as Westdorp, and means "western village". ...

in the Netherlands, where the pylon and cabling was installed. It was loaded onto HEBO Maritiemservice pontoon Hebo-P84, and from 7 to 13 October 2023 towed by

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

''Elisa'' to the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

. They were met at the

Tail of the Bank The Tail of the Bank is the name given to the anchorage in the upper Firth of Clyde immediately North of Greenock, between Inverclyde and Argyll and Bute. This area of the Firth gets its name from the deep water immediately to the west of th ...

by Clyde Marine Services tugs ''CMS Wrestler'' and ''Bruiser''. Delivery was postponed due to strong gusting wind, and the vessels stayed at Greenock Ocean Terminal overnight. On 14 October 2023 the tugs towed the crane on its pontoon up the

into Glasgow, to Pointhouse Quay just upriver from the museum. They moored the pontoon just past

floating sheerleg A floating sheerleg (also: shearleg) is a floating water vessel with a Crane (machine), crane built on shear legs. Unlike other types of crane vessel, it is not capable of rotating its crane independently of its hull. There is a huge variety in ...

crane ''Hebo-Lift 10'' which was already there, along with the small tug ''Avontuur 2''. On 17 October the floating sheerleg crane lifted the moving main span of the bridge into place on its pivot in front of Water Row, Govan, leaving it aligned with the shore so that the Clyde remains open to shipping. Site work continued. The connecting fixed span, still on the pontoon, was taken away for storage, then installed in the summer of 2024 once the north pier and approach path works were sufficiently complete. The bridge opened on 7 September 2024.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bridges completed in 2024 Bridges in Glasgow Pedestrian bridges in Scotland Bridges across the River Clyde Govan Partick 2024 establishments in Scotland Swing bridges in Scotland

History

See also

References

External links