Clifton bridge to close for essential maintenance

A landmark suspension bridge is to temporarily shut for upgrades.

Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol will close to vehicles from 09:00 until 15:00 GMT on 29 October.

The upgrades include the installation of new monitoring system, which protects the structure from being overloaded, maintenance of the toll barriers and painting works.

Trish Johnson, bridge master at the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust (CSBT), said the work was "vital" in keeping "the bridge well maintained and operating for many years to come".

The bridge will remain open for pedestrians, with cyclists asked to dismount and walk.

A diversion route has been planned, using Bridge Valley Road, Brunel Way and A369 Rownham Hill.

CSBT said traffic following the signed route will be exempt from clean air zone charges.

Ms Johnson said the work was being "funded entirely by bridge tolls" and thanked users for "supporting the preservation of this famous landmark".

The trust apologised for any inconvenience caused by the closure.

Clifton Suspension Bridge toll could rise to £1.50



Tolls on Bristol's historic Clifton Suspension Bridge could rise for the first time in a decade.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust has proposed increasing the crossing fee from £1 to £1.50 per crossing because of increases in inflation, maintenance costs and wage increases.

The trust has launched a public consultation into the proposed price increase.

Bridge master Trish Johnson said: "Clifton Suspension Bridge requires regular maintenance and inspections as well as the 25-yearly major refurbishment project of repainting the bridge chains and replacing the lights." She added: "Given the bridge receives no public money, the costs of this essential work need to be funded from the tolls."

The 160-year-old structure, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, carries three million vehicles a year.

Ms Johnson added: "We believe that the toll needs to be increased to ensure the continued operation and maintenance of the bridge but we want to hear what our community thinks – those who regularly use the bridge as well as those who just use it occasionally. We also want to know what our other stakeholders think, before we submit our application to the Department for Transport (DfT)."

The proposal includes a smaller annual increase in the toll, linked to inflation, in the future.

In April 2014, the toll increased from 50p to £1, following a public inquiry held by the DfT. Cyclists and pedestrians do not pay to use the bridge and there are no proposals to change this, the bridge trust confirmed.

The consultation, which has already begun, will run until 7 November.

Is the toll still 50p currently?  If so, that is a huge increase.

I remember hearing that the law allows a 5p toll to be charged to pedestrians, although this was never collected.

Huge vaults under Clifton Suspension Bridge towers opened to public for the first time

Hidden for more than 150 years, these are the stunning cathedral-like vaults under Isambard Kingdom Brunel's engineering masterpiece.

The 12 chambers below each end of the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge were first found by chance in 2002 by a builder.

They have now been opened to the public for the first time since the bridge opened in 1864 after doorways were installed in the two-metre thick brickwork.

The vaults are inside the massive two-storey abutments which support the bridge towers either side of the Avon Gorge in Bristol.

It was assumed for decades that they were either solid stone or filled and the discovery of the huge chambers surprised historians.

Two of them have now been opened for guided tours where visitors will have to climb down a ladder and squeeze through a small passageway.

The sealed-up chambers were discovered by chance by a builder as he replaced paving stones on the western side of the bridge nearly 15 years ago.

Since then all of the rubble in the lower chamber of the abutment has been "hoovered" out using a section truck and the site made safe.


A look inside one of the vaults under Clifton Suspension Bridge

Laura Hilton, the bridge's visitor services manager, said: "Brunel made sure it would last but he didn't consider that people would have to go into the vaults to perform any kind of maintenance, so there was no entranceway to them at all."

Built using lime mortar, the vaulted chambers are filled with stalagmites and stalactites - calcite deposits dripped down through the brickwork

No construction drawings survive and as the vaults were sealed, no-one knew of their existence.


The vaults are connected by a network of tunnels

Connected by a network of narrow tunnels, Ms Hilton said the massive two-storey abutment was "quite a strange place to go inside".

She added: "The largest chamber that we can go into is tall enough to stack three double-decker buses inside. It's almost like a cathedral and because it was built using lime mortar it's filled with stalagmites and stalactites so it's just amazing to go inside."

The bridge, which stands 245ft above the high water mark, was completed in 1864 - five years after Brunel's death at the age of 53.

It will also be open to public for free during Bristol Open Doors later this year.


This black hole leads into one of the vaults

Clifton Suspension Bridge turns green to mark European Green Capital


Bristol has marked the start of its year as European Green Capital by lighting up Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The bridge was lit with green light at midnight.

The city is the first in the UK to be given the status since the award was launched in 2008 and has taken over the title from Copenhagen.

The initiative rewards cities making efforts to improve the urban environment and create healthier and more sustainable living areas.

Previous title holders are: Stockholm in 2010, Hamburg in 2011, Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2012, Nantes in 2013 and Copenhagen in 2014.

Ljubljana, in Slovenia, will take over from Bristol in 2016.

Clifton Suspension Bridge to be lit up green at midnight to mark Bristol's European Green Capital year


Clifton Suspension Bridge will be lit up in green as the clock strikes midnight tonight

Tomorrow might be a day of hangovers and resolutions for many, but it will also be the day that Bristol begins its prestigious year as European Green Capital.

And to mark the momentous occasion, Clifton Suspension Bridge will be lit up in green as the clock strikes midnight tonight.

Floodlights will cover the bridge as the New Year rings in at the stroke of 12am.

And from tomorrow, a programme of artwork, community plans, city improvements and entertainment can finally begin, after months of planning and organising behind the scenes.

The Bristol 2015 team has promised an eclectic year of events, which it is hoped will impact directly on communities from Clifton to Keynsham.

The European Commission officially handed over the title of European Green Capital from Copenhagen to Bristol in early December.

Bristol is the first UK city to be awarded the title, and its programme of activity for 2015 promises to be the ^best funded and most comprehensive launched by any European Green Capital to date^.

Mayor George Ferguson said at the handover ceremony: ^My ambition is that Bristol^s year as European Green Capital should make a positive difference to people throughout the city and create a lasting legacy that we can all be proud of.^

The handover ceremony marked the sixth year of the European Green Capital initiative, which rewards cities that are making efforts to improve the urban environment and move towards healthier and more sustainable living areas.

Other cities that have previously held the Green Capital title are Stockholm (2010), Hamburg (2011), Vitoria-Gasteiz (2012), Nantes (2013) and Copenhagen (2014). Ljubljana will take over from Bristol in 2016.

This year will see Luke Jerram^s latest piece installed in Leigh Woods - from April, the artist will invite visitors to experience an unexpected encounter with a flotilla of abandoned fishing boats installed in the depths of the woodland.

Clifton Suspension Bridge fireworks: Thousands mark 150 years


Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous structure first opened 150 years ago

Thousands of people have celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge.

A fireworks display on Sunday night is part of a two-day celebration of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's structure.

A one-minute silence was held before the display, following the death of Bristol mother Charlotte Bevan and her baby girl earlier this week.

The Grade I-listed bridge, which spans the Avon Gorge, first opened to the public on 8 December 1864.

On Monday, a "modest re-enactment" of the opening celebrations 150 years ago will take place.


The skies above the Avon Gorge were lit up by fireworks

Clifton Suspension Bridge? That's in San Francisco, right?

Many Britons are unable to correctly place some of the country's best known landmarks, research finds


Bristol^s Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by the Victorian architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is misidentified by one in 10 Londoners as San Francisco^s Golden Gate Bridge.  Photo: ALAMY

An embarrassing number of Britons cannot tell the difference between the UK^s landmarks and those situated in foreign countries, research suggests.

More than half of us (55%) confuse the Lake District^s Wastwater lake with Lake Geneva in Switzerland, while Portsmouth^s Spinnaker Tower is believed by 48% to be in Dubai, a survey found.


San Francisco^s Golden Gate Bridge

Bristol^s Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by the Victorian architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is misidentified by one in 10 Londoners as San Francisco^s Golden Gate Bridge.

The poll of 2,000 UK adults by First Great Western, the train operator, also found that Christchurch College, one of Oxford University^s best-known institutions, is thought to be in France by 16% of Britons, while the world-famous open air Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, is believed to be in Athens, Greece, by almost a third (32%).

Appletree Bay, a picturesque spot on the Isles of Scilly, was located by 30% in the Maldives instead. Almost one in 10 attributed images of the Isles of Scilly to East London^s Isle of Dogs.

Philip Edgerton, head of marketing at First Great Western, said: ^We live in a fantastic country but this research shows that many of us simply aren't aware of the amazing places on our doorstep just waiting to be discovered.^

The toll for crossing Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge and paying with cash is to double from 50p to ^1.

The proposal will go to the Department for Transport for approval and, if this is given, then the increase will come into force later this year.

A spokesman for the bridge trustees said regular users could still make savings with a prepaid crossing card.

But a spokesman for the National Alliance Against Tolls argued the increase was not needed.

"I would urge any bridge user who thinks they are going to be affected by the toll increase to make their feelings known to the Department for Transport.

'Bridge illuminations'

"If people don't object the rise will just go through unchallenged.

"And we feel the toll money shouldn't be spent on bridge illuminations or visitor centres which have nothing to do with the cost of crossing," he added.

The bridge is run as a charitable trust and receives no money from government, local authorities or the lottery.

The trustees of Brunel's iconic bridge say ^8m needs to be spent on vital repair and maintenance work over the next 10 years in addition to the ^1m cost of running the bridge each year.

The bridge is used as a popular short cut between Leigh Woods and Clifton.

In recent years the number of users has fallen by 20% and it is believed this is due to increased use of public transport, park-and-ride services and people cycling more.

The toll for motor vehicles has been 50p since January 2007.