1 Introduction
The 22nd of March 2024 marked 50 years since work began to construct the Itchen Bridge1,2. The bridge opened to traffic just over three years later on the 1st of June 1977.
Figure 1 shows drone footage of the bridge in April 2024. The Itchen Bridge Maintenance Project also sees major repairs being undertaken this year.
In Section 3 we present photographs from eleven colour 35 mm slides from an unknown local photographer from Southampton who captured the construction process from 1974 to the final day of the Woolston chain ferry on the 11th of June 1977. For five of the pictures we have compared the slides to the present day.
2 Background
2.1 Location
The Itchen Bridge is located on the south eastern side of Southampton where the river is about 300 metres wide between the western Chapel side and eastern Woolston side. The bridge is 1.6 km (1 mile) upstream from where the rivers Itchen and Test meet to form Southampton Water. Figure 2 shows the site of the Itchen Bridge in relation to existing and planned infrastructure, including the then unbuilt M27 between Southampton and Portsmouth. The next nearest road bridge is the Northam Bridge, 4 km (2.5 miles) further upstream.
2.2 Dimensions
At 1200 metres in length and rising to provide 24.38 metres clearance at it’s highest point (28.9 metres above chart datum3) and weighing in at 61,000 tons4, the Itchen Bridge is by far the biggest bridge in Southampton (Figure 3). The height is a result of two ship mast height surveys carried out in 1958 and 1970. Only six ships with masts greater than 24.4 metres were observed in 1970, but this was sufficient to not apply for any reduction in height as laid out in the 1960 Southampton Corporation Act. This in turn created the 5% gradient that makes the bridge rise steeply from the land on either side1.
2.3 Costs
The tender price for the bridge was £5,710,630, but in 1977 the total cost was estimated to be around £12 million2. That’s approximately equivalent to a tender price of £74.5 million and total cost of £157 million in 20245, and is about the same as it costs to run the NHS in England for 9 hours6.
In 1977 it was estimated that the costs would be repaid by tolls in around 25 years (2002)2. By 1981 following a question in Parliament the date for repayment was revised back to 20257. A Freedom of Information request by Victoria Fraser in September 2023 confirmed that the debt had been repaid in 2016 with toll income of between £2 and £3.8 million for the financial years 2020 to 20238. The response to this request also noted an expected £4.5 million maintenance costs for the 2024 repairs.
The original purpose of the toll was in part as a congestion charge to discourage traffic as well as pay for the costs of the bridge that the City had hoped would be paid for by the UK government before the funds were diverted towards building the M27, and objections raised by motoring organisations almost led to the failure of the project1,2.
Approval for the project was passed in July 1973 leaving only 8 months to prepare contracts and invite tenders before the expiry of the Southampton Corporation at the end of March 19741. The expiration of the Southampton Corporation ended the existence of the City as a Highway Authority with the power to build bridges, hence it is unclear when or if a bridge would have been built had the deadline been missed.
In 1977 the original toll structure for non-residents was 15p for cars at peak times, 25p for commercial vehicles weighing 1 to 3 tons and £1 for those over 3 tons. Vehicles over 3 tons with 3 or more axles were to be penalised with £10 toll2.
In 2024 the toll structure has changed, but equivalent tolls would be £1 for cars and small commercial vehicles and £1.40 for larger cars and commercial vehicles and £40 for HGVs, mobile homes and buses. This represents a six fold increase over the initial toll for cars, but less than the £1.17 equivalent purchasing power of 15p in 20245.
2.4 Design and construction
Engineering consultancy R. Travers Morgan & Partners had been involved in the design process since 1957, initially creating designs for a prestressed concrete bridge in 1971 which became detailed designs by December 1972. The tender was awarded to Kier on 13th February 1974, just over a month before work began. Figure 4 shows the programme for the construction2.
The design was for a two lane road bridge with footways on either side spanning 1200 metres, originally between two roundabouts, now traffic lights at Albert Road on the western Chapel side. The carriageway is wider than was standard at 8.84 metres to allow for cyclists. Cycle lanes are now marked. Beginning on embankments, the bridge extends from two viaducts over four piers with cantilever arms connected by suspended beam spans (Figure 3).
Steel piles were driven 30 metres into the ground for the piers (Figure 3, Figure 8) then the piers cast upwards before the cantilever arms were built out in 3 metre sections either side of each pier for balance (Figure 11). The 260 ton suspended spans were created using a special beam launcher (Figure 12). Each beam took about 3 weeks to construct, launch and lower into place2.
2.5 Further history and information
The Itchen Bridge replaced the Woolston Ferry some 144 years after a bridge was first proposed in 1833. It’s not uncommon for infrastructure projects to experience difficulties and the trials and tribulations of the Itchen Bridge project are captured in detail by Brian Adams in his book about the history and construction of the bridge (Figure 5). His book is available in both the Southampton City and University of Southampton Libraries4.
The Itchen Bridge Wikipedia and Woolston Floating Bridge Wikipedia pages also contain a wealth of information.
Southampton Museums & Archive have a page about the floating bridge as part of their Southampton Stories collection. On YouTube you can hear the song the Woolston Ferry by Gutta Percha & Balladeers which references the Lowry painting of the ferry that is part of the collection at Southampton City Art Gallery.
For more technical and bureaucratic details, the University of Southampton Library has two academic journal articles about the construction in its collection1,2 together with lots of other local history in the Cope collection and Special Collections and Archives. As well as books and texts, these collections include postcards, maps and eng
The Daily Echo has published numerous articles about the Itchen Bridge in the last 50 years, including ‘10 things you may not know’ and ‘46 years on’ and this little tidbit about G E Prince & Sons from Chapel Road and the origins of the Toll Booths.
The bridge also inspired Ali Sparkes to write the Radio 4 drama Tess of the Tollbooth.
3 Colour images, then and now
The eleven 35 mm colour film slides in this sections were purchased on eBay from a seller in Kent. The slides have handwritten descriptions and dates on their casings, but the only details the seller had as to their origin was that they were taken by a photographer local to Southampton.
The slides have been colour corrected, but are otherwise unedited. They are presented in chronological order and for five of the images we were able to identify approximately where they were taken from and have taken comparison images in April 2024. To view these images without the slider, please visit the University of Southampton Library Digital Viewer.
3.1 1974
It is unclear exactly where Figure 6 was taken, but the description on the slide says “Top hill at Woolston preparing for new road” and is dated 6th of August 1974, nearly 5 months after the first pile was driven on 22nd of March 1974. We assume this is heading towards where the Toll Booths would be either on or near the Portsmouth Road (A3025).
In Figure 7 we see the view from the Woolston Ferry on the 16th of September 1974 looking east towards the construction of the bridge on the Woolston side. We can see the yellow ferry in the distance on the far shore. In 2024 the landing site of the ferry is the location of Southampton Water Activities Centre which can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 8 was taken on the same day as Figure 7, and shows drilling for the 30 metre steel pilings for the new bridge. This location is now Oakbank Road and in 1974 Woolston Railway station could still be seen. In 2024 it is obscured by the bridge, and the old Boat Shop at the junction of Victoria Road is now The Boat Shop Cafe.
3.2 1975
On the 16th of March 1975, almost a year after construction first began, Figure 9 shows an image from Hazel Road looking west towards the Woolston Ferry landing site with a pink ice cream van on the wharf and bus nearby on what is now Wharf Road. In the river the pilings for the new bridge piers can be seen. In 2024 the view of the bridge is largely obscured by housing, but there is monument to the ferry at the entrance to the homes on Wharf Road.
Figure 10 and Figure 11 were both taken on the same day close to Christmas on the 18th of December 1975.
Figure 10 shows the construction of the viaduct rising from the embankment at Portsmouth Road on the Woolston side of the bridge. A bus station appears to have existed at what is now Oakbank Road car park. On the left can be seen the cantilever from the first pier on the Woolston side.
Figure 11 shows a completed bridge pier and cantilever sections on the Woolston side as described in Section 2.4. This is probably the same one that can be seen on the left edge of Figure 10.
3.3 1976
There is just one photograph from 1976, taken in the spring on the 21st of April1976. Figure 12 shows the beam launcher in action just after the construction of the suspended spans would have begun (Figure 4).
As described in Section 2.4, following the construction of the cantilevers from the piers, over a period of three weeks the beam launcher was used to construct and lift into place the section of bridge that is suspended between two piers and joining them.
3.4 1977
We have three photographs taken on the 31st of May 1977, the day that the pedestrians were first able to use the Itchen Bridge. This suggests our photographer might have been amongst them, although we have no images taken from the bridge itself. The bridge was then opened to traffic on 1st of June 1977 and officially named on the 13th of July 1977 by Princess Alexandra.
Figure 13 shows the approach to the Toll Booths on the Woolston side.
Figure 14 shows the completed bridge looking west towards the city from the Woolston side from the road approaching the bridge near the Toll Booths, and Figure 15 shows the view in the same direction but from next to the new Oakbank Road car park.
Finally Figure 16 was taken on the last day of operation of the Woolston Ferry on the 6th of June 1977. The picture is taken on the ferry as car disembark on western Chapel side of the river with the completed bridge viaduct rising above it.
