The Kingsferry Bridge is a combined road and railway

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

which connects the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

to mainland

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

. The seven-span bridge has a central lifting span which allows ships to pass. In 1860, the first bridge on this site was constructed for the

London, Chatham & Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and nor ...

Company on their line between Kent and the port of

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

. Originally a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

, it opened to allow large vessels to navigate past and not obstruct maritime traffic on

the Swale The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also ...

. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge; it was repaired and returned to service after 10 months. The bascule bridge was closed in the 1950s and was replaced by the present Kingsferry Bridge. The new bridge was designed by

Mott, Hay and Anderson Mott, Hay and Anderson (MHA) was a successful 20th century firm of consulting civil engineers based in the United Kingdom. The company traded until 1989, when it merged with Sir M MacDonald & Partners to form '' Mott MacDonald''. History Earl ...

, and constructed by

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

, in conjunction with

Dorman Long Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh ...

and Sir William Arrol & Co.

Swale railway station Swale railway station is in north Kent, England, on the Sheerness Line from , at the southern end of the Kingsferry Bridge which, along with the more modern Sheppey Crossing, connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent. The nearest settlemen ...

is at the southern end of the bridge. When opened, the structure carried the

A249 The A249 is a road in Kent, England, running from Maidstone to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between the M2 and M20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the port at Sheerness. In 2006 an upgraded du ...

; up to 30,000 vehicles per day used the bridge. Most traffic has been diverted onto the

Sheppey Crossing The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across The Swale (a tidal strait of the Thames Estuary), linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height o ...

, which opened in 2006. The number of road vehicles crossing Kingsferry Bridge has dropped but it is still maintained as a key roadway between the island and the mainland.

History

Background

In 1860, the first bridge on the site was completed. It was a

, built to carry railway traffic across

The Swale The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also ...

between the

and mainland

for the

Company. The LCDR operated rail traffic to the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. The LCDR and the South Eastern Railway (SER) amalgamated to form the

South Eastern & Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easte ...

which replaced major elements of the bridge and during 1904, a replacement Scherzer-type moving section was installed.Otter, Robert A. "Civil Engineering Heritage: Southern England." Thomas Telford Publishing, 1994. p. 239. “Kingsferry Vertical Lift Bridge.”
‘’engineering-timelines.com’’, Retrieved: 10 July 2018. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge causing extensive damage and a lengthy closure. Repairs took ten months before it was re-opened to traffic. It remained in use until the early 1950s when it was replaced by the present bridge.

Current bridge

During the late 1940s, it was recognised that a new bridge was required. The bridge did not meet traffic demands; people wanted to use road vehicles rather than being restricted to boats or trains. The design for the replacement bridge incorporated a roadway alongside the electrified tracks and a pedestrian footpath. The new bridge's elevation was dictated by the low-lying river banks and the railway limited its maximum possible gradient. In December 1957, construction commenced. The resident engineer was R. Hodges and the

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

ing company John Howard & Co was appointed the principal contractor; the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

work was sourced from

and the machinery was provided Sir William Arrol & Co. On 20 April 1960, it was officially opened by the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...

. For many decades Kingsferry Bridge was the only crossing to Sheppey. Before the opening of the

in 2006, up to 30,000 vehicles per day crossed the bridge. Road traffic was inconvenienced when the bridge was opened to enable the boats to pass, usually at high tide. Each closure lasts for 15 to 20 minutes. Kingsferry Bridge has been raised over 100,000 times during its lifetime; each lift has to be recorded. During January 2015, a bid by

Iwade Parish Council Iwade is a village and civil parish north of the town of Sittingbourne in the English county of Kent. History Iwade was established in the late Medieval period, when it was a settlement linking Watling Street to the coast via Key Street (a st ...

to have the bridge recognised as a

listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

was turned down by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as it did not fall into the categories used to determine those sites that are most in need of protection. During 2010, the

Kent Police Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in the south east of England. History On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed u ...

borrowed £73,000 from

Swale Borough Council Swale or Swales may refer to: Topography * Swale (landform), a low tract of land ** Bioswale, landform designed to remove silt and pollution ** Swales, found in the formation of Hummocky_cross-stratification#Formation_of_structure, Hummocky cros ...

for an

automatic number plate recognition Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also #Other names, other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing close ...

system (ANPR). The system was installed on the Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge that year in a bid to track criminals' movements.

Mechanics and structure

The bridge is a combined road and railway vertical-lift bridge. It carries a 24-foot (7.3m) wide two-lane road, a 6-foot (1.8m) wide footpath and a single-track electrified railway line. Although the railway operates by electrified

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...

, there is no electrification over the moving section of the bridge. To cross the bridge, electric trains coast across the gap in the electrification. Structurally, the bridge comprises two sets of approach spans, each of which has three spans, either side of the central main lifting span. Each span comprises two

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

ed longitudinal

deck

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 ' ...

s, supporting riveted cross girders, which in turn support a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

slab deck. Each set of three spans consists of two simply supported end spans which continue as cantilevers approximately 1/5 span into the middle span. The central 3/5 span sections are simply supported drop in spans supported by halving joints. The main span is a structurally independent lifting span. The bearings are inset from the end lifting beams. Spans 1, 3, 5 and 7 are c/c of bearings. Spans 2 and 6 are , with halving joints from both end and a suspended span of . The central lifting span, Span 4, is c/c of bearings, with cantilevers of either end to the lifting cross girders. The approach spans have cross girders, spaced apart, while the lifting girder features cross girders spaced at intervals of .Anderson, J. K. and C. D. Brown
"Design and Construction of the Kingsferry Lifting Bridge, Isle of Sheppey."
''

Institute of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, wh ...

'', Volume 28 Issue 4, August 1964, pp. 449-470. The bridge

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s are of cellular concrete construction. Pier 1, 2, 5 and 6 comprise five reinforced concrete circular caisson piles, formed as piers. They have a diameter of and are spaced at intervals of between centres. A reinforced concrete cap, which has a height of and a depth of 6 feet, sits above the piers. Below the level of river bed is a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

, which links piers 3 and 4 of the bridge’s lifting span. Piers 3 and 4 support the lifting span in addition to the approach spans. They are constructed of a pair of circular reinforced concrete caissons founded in the river bed. The caissons are linked by a concrete structure, positioned at approximately low tide level, which accommodates the machinery room and bearings for the lifting span. Two concrete towers extend above road level; both the towers and their piers are hollow as to allow them to support the lifting cables and

counterweight A counterweight is a weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves energy and causes less wear ...

s. The towers are braced near the top by two concrete beams. The moving section of the bridge is actuated via a pair of large electric motors located beneath the deck of the roadway. At either side are

engine room On a ship, the engine room (ER) is the compartment where the machinery for marine propulsion is located. To increase a vessel's safety and chances of surviving damage, the machinery necessary for the ship's operation may be segregated into vari ...

s containing equipment for operating the wire ropes and counterweights that lift and lower the bridge. Three storage areas and the bridge control room are located in the bases of the towers. The bridge can only be lifted when the

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

railway signalman has given authorisation to proceed when a train has passed out of the relevant track section. The maximum bridge lifting height is 84 feet; on attaining its full lift height, a

klaxon A horn is a sound-making device that can be equipped to motor vehicles, buses, bicycles, trains, trams (otherwise known as streetcars in North America), and other types of vehicles. The sound made usually resembles a "honk" (older vehicles) or a ...

is sounded to give auditory confirmation. To ensure that the lifting span has been correctly set back into place, it is equipped with locating devices to precisely align the tracks. To prevent operations being disrupted by a supply-related power failure, a standby diesel

generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

, capable of generating up to 40 kW, is located on site.

In popular culture

The bridge was used as a key location for the 2021 miniseries ''Too Close''. The bridge is referenced in the book, “The Bone Clocks: A Novel”, by David Mitchell

References