One of the longest 'opening' pedestrian and cycle bridges in Europe has opened to the public, albeit with a series of night closures to commission and test the power supply.
The Govan–Partick Bridge, which was built by Farrans, was formally opened on Friday (6 September) and then to the public on Saturday morning. Construction began in April 2022.
However, the official opening relied on power provided by a generator to demonstrate that emergency back-up systems work. The bridge was then scheduled to close on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings this week to commission and test the permanent power supply.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council described this as standard practice in such projects.
Funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal, the £29.5m structure re-establishes the historic connection between Govan and Partick.
It is six metres wide and forms a central part of the active travel route between the University of Glasgow’s campus at Gilmorehill and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The fabricated steel cable stayed opening swing bridge has two spans. The moving span weighs 650 tonnes, is 99 metres long and uses the South Pier (at Water Row) as its access, while the fixed span weighs 45 tonnes and is 15.7 metres long.
Scottish Government minister for investment Tom Arthur said: ‘The opening of this bridge is welcome news, improving pedestrian and cycling access to education centres, job opportunities and visitor attractions while allowing people to save cash on travel costs and reduce emissions.’
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of the Glasgow City Region cabinet, said: ‘The re-connection of Govan and Partick through this landmark bridge will bring local and regional economic, environmental and social benefits and help maximise the boost that the major projects being delivered between the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Glasgow University’s Gilmorehill campus will bring.’
The Glasgow City Region City Deal will see the Scottish and UK Governments each provide £500m for infrastructure projects.
The free to attend Road Expo Scotland and Bridges Scotland run from 27-29 November at the SEC Glasgow.
