The Humber Bridge is a 2.22-kilometre (2,430-yard; 7,300-foot; 1.38-mile) single-span road suspension bridge near Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. When it opened to traffic on 24 June 1981, it was the longest of its type in the world; the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge surpassed it in 1998, and it became the fourteenth-longest by 2025.
The bridge spans the Humber (an estuary formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse), between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Hessle on the north bank, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire with North Lincolnshire. Both sides of the bridge were in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside until its dissolution in 1996. The bridge can be seen for miles around, from as far as Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and from out to sea miles off the coast. It is a Grade I listed building.
By 2006, the bridge carried an average of 120,000 vehicles per week. The toll was £3.00 each way for cars (higher for commercial vehicles), which made it the most expensive toll crossing in the United Kingdom. In April 2012, the toll was halved to £1.50 each way after the UK government deferred £150 million from the bridge's outstanding debt.
Before the bridge, commuters crossed the Humber on the Humber Ferry from Corporation Pier at Hull and New Holland Pier at New Holland, Lincolnshire, or by road via the M62 (from 1976), M18 (from 1979) and M180 motorways, crossing, by way of the Ouse Bridge, the River Ouse near Goole (connected to the Humber). Until the mid-1970s the route south was via the single-carriageway A63 and the A614 (via grid-locked Thorne) where it met the busy A18 and crossed the Stainforth and Keadby Canal at Keadby Bridge, a swing bridge, which formed a bottleneck on the route, and on through Finningley and Bawtry, meeting the east–west A631.
The journey was along straight single-carriageway roads across foggy moors interrupted by bottlenecks for most of the journey to Blyth, Nottinghamshire, where it met the A1, and the accident rate was high. Debates in Parliament were held on the low standard of the route across the windswept plains around Goole. It was not unexpected that under these conditions, a Humber Bridge, with connecting dual-carriageway approach roads and grade-separated junctions, would seem worthwhile. By the time the bridge opened, much of this inferior route had been transformed by dualling of the A63 and its bypasses, extending the M62 and the connecting of the M18 from Thorne to Wadworth. The obvious need for a Humber Bridge had been reduced by the late 1970s with the improvements of the motorway infrastructure in the region. Although welcome, these improvements detracted from the need for vehicles to cross a bridge from Hessle to Barton. The Humber Bridge was a victim of the success of the M62 before it opened. A hovercraft service, Minerva and Mercury, linked Hull Pier and Grimsby Docks from February to October 1969 but suffered relatively frequent breakdowns.
Plans for a bridge were drawn up in the 1930s when a team of engineers compiled a report on whether to bridge or tunnel the estuary. It was decided that a bridge would cost £1,750,000 over a tunnel which was costed at £7,200,000.
Revised plans were unveiled in 1955, but work did not begin until 27 July 1972. The Humber Bridge Act 1959 (7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. xlvi), was promoted by Kingston Upon Hull Corporation and established the Humber Bridge Board to manage and raise funds to build the bridge and buy the land required for the approach roads.
In early 1965 the transport plans for the region were mostly developed, to cost £50 million in total. This included what became the M18 around Doncaster, and a trunk road from Gilberdyke westwards, with a £5.5 million high-level bridge over the River Ouse, to meet the M62. The Humber Bridge was now planned to cost around £11.5 million. But in parliament on 22 September 1965, this east-west road system, and the north-south Doncaster bypass was given much higher priority than the Humber Bridge; construction on the region's transport was planned to start in the 1970s.
1966 Kingston upon Hull North by-election
The allocation of funds proved impossible until the 1966 Kingston upon Hull North by-election. Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson prevailed upon his Minister of Transport Barbara Castle to sanction the building of the bridge. Dismay at the long wait for a crossing led to Christopher Rowe writing a protest song, "The Humber Bridge".
In December 1965, the East Riding council disputed the government's plans, and wanted the proposed east-west route to end at Ledsham, not Ferrybridge.
Four weeks later at an evening meeting on Tuesday 18 January 1966 at Endike Lane Primary School, Barbara Castle agreed to a bridge. On the same day Mrs Castle, originally from Pontefract, had approved the £9 million Doncaster southern bypass. Three days later, in parliament, the shadow chancellor said that this was a pre-election bribe.
An important feasibility study report by the Central Unit of Environmental Planning, of the Department of Economic Affairs was published on 30 April 1969, which would provide enough evidence for the scheme to be funded. Shortly afterwards, on Thursday 1 May 1969 the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, in parliament, announced that construction of the bridge would start in 1972, to be built by 1976. Seven days later the local council became Conservative, by 44 to 37 seats.
The consulting engineers for the project were Freeman Fox & Partners (now Arcadis NV). Sir Ralph Freeman had produced the first ideas in 1927 and in the early 1930s the cost of the project was estimated at £1.725 million and that the bridge would be unlikely to recoup the construction or maintenance costs. In 1935 he had an idea for a 4,500-foot (1,400 m) suspension bridge for the Humber Tunnel Executive Committee.
Sir Gilbert Roberts produced more ideas in 1955 for a bridge with a 4,500-foot (1,400 m) central span, costing £15 million, to be paid for by East Riding County Council and Lindsey County Council. The 1955 design looked much like the Forth Road Bridge, which would cost £15 million, and have a 4,500 ft main span. The design would be two side spans of both 1,395ft. 2.4m vehicles would be expected in the first year, which was expected to double over ten years.
By 1959, the design would be 4,580 ft and to cost £16 million. In 1967 bore hole tests took place, with a soil survey, and wind tunnel tests of proposed designs. By 1969 the bridge, now of concrete design, would cost £20 million.
When it became likely that a bridge would be constructed, Imperial College-educated Bernard Wex OBE (1922–1990) produced the design in 1964 that was actually built. The bridge was built to last 120 years. The architect was R. E. Slater ARIBA. The administration building (for the tolls) was designed by Parker & Rosner. The landscaping was designed by Prof Arnold Weddle. Wind tunnel testing took place at the National Maritime Institute (now part of BMT Limited) at Teddington, and the road deck was designed for wind speeds up to 105 miles per hour (170 km/h), but storms featuring considerably lower wind speeds have been cited as grounds for emergency repairs in recent years.
The main contractor for the steel superstructure was British Bridge Builders (the same grouping as for the Forth and Severn Road Bridges comprising Sir William Arrol & Co., then a unit of NEI Cranes Ltd, Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company, and Redpath Dorman Long Ltd). In late March 1973, British Bridge Builders received a £15 million contract for the building of the superstructure.