The Humber Bridge
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Issued at May 14, 2008, 3:44 pm
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Technical Specifications

Elevation of the Towers
The Humber Bridge is a suspension bridge with the north tower sited on the high water line and the south tower founded in shallow water 500m from the shore.

On the north bank, a hard well-jointed bed of chalk comes close to the surface and is covered by a tough layer of glacially deposited chalky boulder clay. The chalk has provided good foundations for both the anchorage and tower on this bank, on the south side, soft alluvium is underlain by beds of boulder clay, sand and gravel. Below these beds, at a depth of 30m, there is a deep bed of stiff, heavily fissured kimmeridge clay, on which the tower and anchorage have been founded.

Designed to cross the last major unbridged estuary in Britain, the bridge comprises reinforced concrete towers aerial-spun catenary cables and a continuously-welded, closed – box road deck supported by inclined hanger cables.



Span Information
Section through the Deck
The bridge is a masterpiece of civil engineering and was developed out of a design used initially for the Severn bridge near Bristol, England. Its design lifespan is 120 years.

The Consulting Engineers for the project were Freeman Fox & Partners


Main Span 1,410m
Side Spans
North Side
South Side
280m
530m
Length between anchorages 2,220m
Clearance over high water 30m
Deck width (including paths) 28.5m
Tower height above piers 155.5m
Diameter of main cables 0.68m
Total length of wire 71,000km
Load in each cable 19,400 tonnes
Weight of Steel 27,500 tonnes
Weight of concrete 480,000 tonnes
Depth of Foundations, Anchorage
North side

South side
21m
35m
Depth of Foundations, Towers
North side

South side
8m
36m

Carriageways
....Dual two lane carriageway plus separate paths

Main Cables
.....Two cables, each of 14,948 wires of 5mm diameter and 1,540 N/mm2 UTS plus an additional 800 similar wires in each cable on the Northern Side span.
Phone: +44 (0)1482 647161   Fax: +44 (0) 1482 640838   Email:mail@humberbridge.co.uk
Humber Bridge Board, Ferriby Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire, England, HU13 OJG
©2005-2008 The Humber Bridge Board. All Rights Reserved