Originally built in 1969, Anderson footbridge was designed and constructed as a link to a proposed new shopping centre. Unfortunately, the shopping centre was never built and for the last 43 years the footbridge has been nicknamed “THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE”.
In 2012 a £3m upgrade of the National Cycle Network included a major refurbishment of the bridge. The bridge would now be extended over the Marriot Hotel car park and exit onto Waterloo Street.
Due to the bridge being used by not only pedestrians but also cyclists, the parapet rails had to comply with equestrian regulations of a 1.8 metre minimum height. This is due to the elevated position of a cyclist.
Millar Callaghan were given the specifications and loading parameters that the new equestrian parapet needed in order to comply with current legislation. With this information, our designers presented the client with the design and calculations of our proposed parapet. When these calculations had been checked and approved, our survey team went to site to collect all the data required from the original bridge section and also the new section, to allow the parapets and canopy to be fabricated.
Due to the twisting and turning nature of the bridge, a specially designed fabrication jig was manufactured. This jig was designed to be manipulated on 12 independent axis’ to recreate the exact profile of the bridge. This would allow the parapet and canopy to be manufactured in our workshop to the exact profile of the bridge. After manufacture, each panel was carefully numbered and sent for galvanising.
Temporary edge protection was erected or, in some cases, a safety harness was required to ensure that the panels were installed safely.
In 2013, after 43 years, the bridge was finally completed and opened to the public on Monday July 8th. The bridge now forms route 756 of the National Cycle Network.
