Yorkshire nostalgia: Humber Bridge contract awarded

The contract for building the sub-structure and towers of the largest suspension bridge in the world - the Â£26m Humber Bridge - was awarded to John Howard and Co, buildings of the Forth and Severn bridges.

By The Newsroom

Published 3rd Feb 2018, 13:46 GMT

Work on the bridge, which was to connect Barton-on-Humber in Lincolnshire, on the south bank, with Hessle, four miles west of Hull on the north side, will begin on March 1 and be completed by May 1976.

The story appeared in the YEP in February 1973.

The successful tender was £7,594,686.57, which was said to be the bests but was also the lowest.

The span of the Humber Bridge was set out at 4,625ft, which was 665ft longer than the Verranzano Narrows Bridge, New York and 1,325ft longer than the Forth Bridge.

The first major crossing proposal was a tunnel scheme in 1872. Approval for the construction of a suspension bridge was granted in 1959 with the passing of the Humber Bridge Act and the creation of the Humber Bridge Board.

At the height of construction, more than 1,000 people worked on the bridge, which had its official opening on July 17, 1981.