Bribes and bills - a brief history
The Humber Bridge opened to traffic in 1981. But
the idea of a bridge over the estuary goes back much earlier than that.
The modern history of the crossing begins in 1928.
This is when Hull City Council commissioned a feasibility study into an
alternative to the ferry that had linked Hull with Lincolnshire since
1820.
The depression of the 1930s meant that the bridge
remained a pipedream. Nevertheless, in 1935, engineering firm Freeman
Fox and Partners laid out the current span and alignment of the bridge.
Only a suspension bridge would allow sufficient
clearance for shipping, without requiring additional supports which
would cause the shifting sands of the estuary to silt up, thus impeding
river traffic.
The Second World War and subsequent economic gloom
meant that it was 1955 before Kingston Upon Hull Corporation
commissioned a new bridge plan - whilst promoting a Parliamentary bill.
The Humber Bridge Bill was passed the following year. This effectively
set up the Humber Bridge Board in order to manage and raise funds to
build the bridge and buy the land required for the approach roads.
The decisive moment which projected the bridge
from the drawing board was the 1966 Hull North by-election and a
notorious electoral ‘bribe’. To save his government, Harold
Wilson prevailed upon his Minister of Transport Barbara Castle to
sanction the building of the bridge. She duly travelled to Hull and
promised the people of Hull their bridge. This swung the marginal seat
Labour’s way, and the bridge was born.
Five years later, following various detailed
studies, the government agreed to loan the Humber Bridge Board
the money required. That is, of course, the source of the current
financial nightmare (for details see our debt page).
If the planning and financing of the bridge was
difficult, its construction, which began in 1973, was worse. The
geology of the area, particularly on the south bank, caused many
lengthy and costly delays, as did strikes and bad weather. Because the
south tower is set into the river bed, it took a lot more work to
build, and suffered more setbacks, than the relatively simple
land-based north tower.
Before a single steel cable had been spun, the
bridge had consumed £98 million.
The staggering engineering feat of installing the
cables provides many oft-quoted figures: there’s enough cable to
go one-and-a-half times round the world, for example. The first section
of actual bridge deck was hoisted into place in November 1979.
When the Queen opened the bridge in June 1981, the
total cost had risen to £151 million, due in part to the very
high interest rates prevalent during construction. Over the following
quarter of a century, traffic on the bridge has risen and fallen, but
averages just over 6 million vehicles a year. For detailed traffic
figures, see the Humber Bridge Board site.
Tolls have risen too, from £1 for a car
crossing in 1981, to the current charge of £2.70.
