bells bridge

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Postby McShad » Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:47 am

The are building some weird and wonderful road bridge called the Finnestoun bridge and it will involve either moving or removing the bells bridge
I was told the bridge is running from the roundabout on Govan road at the govan town hall all the way up the clyde to the roundabout at the City Inn....
If someone can confirm this rumour!

But something IS happening to bells bridge as there is a container at the south end of it and all the perspex from the 'roof' has been removed!
Pictures to follow
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Postby viceroy » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:18 am

McShad wrote:I was told the bridge is running from the roundabout on Govan road at the govan town hall all the way up the clyde to the roundabout at the City Inn


As far as I can make out the bridge will run from the bottom of Finnieston Street diagonally across the river and come out onto the Govan Road beside the South Rotunda. So nowhere near the roundabout at the Govan Town Hall. Whether the bridge is a good idea remains to be seen. It will probably lead to a considerable increase in vehicle traffic along the Govan Road and throughout the surrounding area. Also, it is a fixed bridge so there will be severe restrictions on the size of vessels capable of navigating the river.

The Bells Bridge is not being removed as far as I know [but I could be wrong, of course]. I noticed the [ancient] shipping container as well. Maybe they're just doing some renovation work.
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Postby McShad » Sat Sep 10, 2005 5:02 pm

Then what are the doing at princess dock?
I know they are building flats on the graving docks, but they are building something different on the river
The site has something which looks like a low bridge support and they have floating cranes pilldriving huge columns into the riverbed

I thought about the bridge going over to the south rotunda but take a look at the space either side of it... could you fit a 4 lane road through either side? And would they want to spoil the appearence of such a unique (pair) of buildings?
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Postby viceroy » Sat Sep 10, 2005 6:43 pm

Have a look at this link:

PacificQuay

This would seem to show the bridge connecting with Govan Road at the South Rotunda.

I believe the bridge will have 2 lanes for traffic plus a relatively narrow lane either side for pedestrians and cyclists and of course the width will also be restricted by the access from Finnieston Street on the north side.

Not sure what the piledriving operations at the canting basin are intended to achieve. Maybe they're just trying to reclaim some more land for building on.
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Postby McShad » Sun Sep 11, 2005 7:43 am

See.... its construction work by the same contractor... that makes me suspect they are linked somehow
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Postby Apollo » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:20 am

I remember plans were announced to move the Bell's Bridge as part of some bigger scheme a few years ago.

It always stuck in my mind as I bascially thought it was a daft idea, as the move wasn't very far, so I wondered why they didn't just design around it, instead of carrying out an operation that would probably be more complex than just building another bridge, though I doubt they'd have been allowed to scrap the original, hence the move.

Been watching ever since, still hasn't moved.
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Postby red_kola » Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:15 pm

viceroy wrote: Whether the bridge is a good idea remains to be seen. It will probably lead to a considerable increase in vehicle traffic along the Govan Road and throughout the surrounding area.


The "Squinty Bridge", as it has been inelegantly christened, was pretty mutch a condition of the BBC moving to their new Headquarters, so expect a huge increase in traffic between the west-end and govan via this route as well :wink:.

Generally I think that this will be good thing for the Govan area because after decades of neglect, unfortunately there isn't really much left there to be ruined. The few stunning buildings which do remain are mostly derelict at present, so any viable alternative uses - even the dreaded 'luxury flats' route - are probably welcome...
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Postby crusty_bint » Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:24 pm

Heres theRiver development Strategy part of the City Plan, it doesn't seem to say anything about moving Bells Bridge
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Postby gap74 » Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:50 pm

Hasn't Bell's Bridge already been moved a good few years ago now? I'm sure they moved it slightly about 10 years ago, and can't see them moving it again, since the new bridge will be just upstream, and the more recent footbridge (does it have a name?) is just downstream...

Might just be general refurb works, it had been looking a bit tatty!

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Postby McShad » Sun Sep 11, 2005 4:00 pm

Not sure its been moved already, but it has been painted a few times... I'm sure it wasnt always blue to be honest.

I can remember cycling passed it years ago and they had chain link gates on either side to stop people crossing it, but they crossed it anyway. It's a fairly vital link when you think how far away the next crossing is!

Whats the point of the millenium bridge so close to the bells bridge? Seems a waste of money to me! Roll on GCC
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Postby viceroy » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:22 pm

I remember the gates being closed on either side of the Bell's Bridge. Like most people I just used to climb over them. But I can't exactly remember why this was done. I think perhaps the SECC may have wanted to try and stop cyclists from crossing their terrain because they may have thought they had a legal responsibility if there was an accident. Related to this may have been the fact that at that time the SECC had a policy of banning people from cycling through the covered walkway leading to the Exhibition Centre railway station. The SECC security staff would stop you if they caught you doing it. Nowadays of course cyclists can go bombing through the walkway and frighten the shit out of pedestrians to their heart's content [sorry, but I can't begin to tell you how often this has been done to me!].

Fully agree about the Millennium Bridge. Utterly pointless building it a matter of yards from the Bell's Bridge. Seems to me like somebody's been trying to get rid of some surplus public money.
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Postby crusty_bint » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:31 pm

The Millenium bridge was built with Millenium funding (funnily enough!) as part of the Science Centre development and so technically didn't come out of the public purse. The reason for it being where it is will become clear when the new Developments at Pacific Quay and Elphinstone Village (on the other side in the SCC car park) are completed along with about half a dozen other bridges that will be built. The more routes across the Clyde the better as far as Im concerned.
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Postby gap74 » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:36 pm

Had a root around on the old net, and found this reference to proposals to move it 200m downstream in 1998 - I'm sure they did it too, it was so that it joined up better with the Armadillo and SECC - was it's original position not further upstream (east) because that is where the entrance to the Garden Festival was? Once that finished, it would have been a bridge to nowhere unless they moved it down a bit.

http://spokes.org.uk/oldsite/news68b.htm

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Postby crusty_bint » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:05 pm

And there you have it! Well found Gary :D
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Postby Apollo » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:17 pm

The Spokes article mentions a controversial plan to move Bell's Bridge.

I'd need to take a trip and compare pics, as I was taking yearly pics on a fairly regular basis of the Festival site, and 1998 was the 10th anniversary, so I'm sure I would have noticed if the bridge moved.

I'll stick it my diary for next time I happen to make it there, unless someone else comes up with before/after pics first.
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