Millennium Bridge, Gateshead

With its mould-breaking design, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge - or the 'blinking eye' bridge as it's affectionately known' - is the world's first rotating bridge, turning on pivots on both sides of the river to form a spectacular gateway arch.

Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineers Gifford and Partners, and built by a Gateshead-based construction company, Harbour and General, this unique award-winning bridge has attracted worldwide attention.

It's not only eye catching either - the bridge provides a footpath and cycle-way linking ambitious new arts and cultural developments, such as a museum and music hall at Gateshead and Newcastle Quays.

"Pictures of the River Tyne's latest landmark have been beamed all around the world on television from America to Australia and from Norway to Nepal."
The Evening Chronicle, Newcastle

The bridge uses a new tilting mechanism to let ships pass below. It is made of two arches, one forming the bridge deck and the other supporting it. It turns on pivots on both sides of the river to open and close like a giant eyelid. It not only performs well, but also looks great.

Each opening or closing of the bridge 'eyelid' takes four minutes and is powered by eight electric motors totalling 440kW, which is more power than eight family cars. But the bridge's energy-efficient design means that it costs just £3.60 each time it opens.

The bridge has many special features. Litter is automatically collected in traps each time the bridge opens, and special steel piles protect it from being damaged by ships. It can withstand a collision by a 4,000 tonne ship travelling at four knots.

Fast Facts

The project cost £22 million (£9.2million of that was supplied by the Millennium Commission).
It weighs more than a massive 850 tonnes - that's enough steel to make 64 double-decker buses!
It has a total span of 413 feet (126 metres).
The top of the bridge is 50m above river level and its foundations are 30m deep.
It sits on 19,000 tonnes of concrete, enough to make 600,000 paving stones that would stretch 290km if laid end to end.
The design is so efficient that it only costs £3.60 in electricity every time it opens!
It has the same 25m clearance above the river as the Tyne Bridge.
The pivoting systems demands that the bridge was manufactured precisely to a tolerance of just 3mm - about the size of an ant!
And it even tidies up after itself - litter dropped on the bridge will automatically roll into traps each end every time the bridge opens.