Connel Bridge

56.45639 - 5.39167Koordinaten: 56 ° 27 ' 23 " N, 5 ° 23 ' 30" W

F1

A828

Connel Bridge, also Connel Ferry Bridge, is a Gerber beam bridge at the mouth of Loch Etive, Scotland. The road takes you A828 Connel on the Falls of Lora to North Connel. The Connel Bridge was the bridge with the second longest span in the United Kingdom on its completion after the Forth Bridge.

Construction

The bridge has a span of 152.5 m. The roadway is 15 m above the water level. Brick bridge spans, each with three arches show both sides of the connection to the land.

The bridge was built by Sir William Arrol & Co. firm of Glasgow and completed on May 9, 1903. Nearly 2,600 tons of steel were used for the construction. The cost was nearly £ 43,000.

Railway and road bridge

Originally, the bridge was a single-track railway bridge. She served the branch line to Ballachulish and Oban Railway of Callander, which was opened on 20 August 1903. 1909, added a further connection between the ferry from Connel and Bender hole. On their road vehicles could be transported in both directions across the bridge. The vehicles were individually loaded onto a Kremser, which had been adapted from the Glasgow company St. Rollox railway works for the rail operation.

1914 a road was run in parallel to the railway line over the bridge. The road ran along the west side and the rails on the east side. Because of the close proximity were not permitted simultaneously over the bridge rail and road vehicles. Gates at both ends of regulated access. The road users had to pay a bridge toll.

In 1966, the line was taken out of service. The bridge was converted to a pure road bridge and removed the tolls. The bridge is still too narrow for operation in the oncoming traffic. Traffic lights at both ends regulate access nowadays.

Several times the steel beams were driven above the crossings at both ends of high trucks. Then the passages were increased. Today, the maximum clearance height is 4.2 m.

Film

On the bridge, a scene plays in the movie The needle. The German Agent Henry Faber, played by Donald Sutherland, riding a stolen motorcycle across the bridge. When he runs out of gas on the way, he pushes the bike down the embankment on the north side of the bridge.