Over River

Our footbridges over watercourses usually demand unique designs to suit the river or canal being crossed and are often of significant span. Headroom is not often a concern and our focus is generally drawn to efficient and attractive solutions allowing practical construction in, over and around the water. Some of our more prominent early projects achieved single spans between river banks including the 50m long steel box girder cycleway bridge over the River Taff in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff which was designed, fabricated and erected in just 14 weeks. At Warwick our steel arch design for the crossing of the River Avon was awarded following our successful submission in a design competition. We were Network Rail’s designers for the River Leri footway bridge alongside the Cambrian Lines railway in Ynyslas, Mid Wales. This was used as a trial for the use of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) on railway footbridges.

More recently Cass Hayward cycleway bridge designs have included longer multiple span structures at Cardiff and Shoreham by Sea that include moveable spans and architectural embellishment. Pont y Werin, over the River Ely feeding into Cardiff Bay lagoon, has four 30m long steel box girder spans and is supported by piled piers that were formed in the river without temporary works using precast shell segments. For Adur Ferry Bridge in Shoreham our design features three 27m long composite steel and concrete approach spans either side of twin 25m balanced swing spans which are steel girders supported by tension stays from a central mast.