Hulme Arch Bridge

Stretford Road was divided into two halves in 1969 by the construction of Princess Road. A footbridge was subsequently constructed, crossing Princess Road at the same place as the road previously ran. As part of the regeneration of the Hulme district, it was decided to construct a new bridge to rejoin the two sections of the road, and also to provide a local landmark. The design of the bridge was selected via a two-staged, closed design competition, commissioned by Hulme Regeneration Ltd and Manchester City Council. The first stage of the competition was held in March 1995, and had six entries. The winning design was selected in June 1995, and was from architects Chris Wilkinson Architects,…

The bridge consists of a 50 m bridge deck of three 17 by steel and concrete decking segments covered with tarmac. The deck is supported by twenty-two 51 mm spiral steel cables originating from both sides of a 25 m arch. The parabolic arch is made of six prefabricated trapezoid steel box sections, and spans the bridge diagonally. The bridge is illuminated at night. The arch varies between 1.6 m wide by 1.5 m deep at the bases to 3 m wide and 0.7 m deep at the top. It is supported by a pair of 8.5 by concrete blocks, which bear most of the weight of the bridge. The deck is supported by piled abutments, which incorporate areas for bearing and expansion joint inspection and maintenance. The…