Happy Birthday Flintshire Bridge – It was officially opened on March 6th 1998

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales

This article is old - Published: Friday, Mar 6th, 2020

Happy Birthday Flintshire Bridge – Deeside’s iconic bridge was officially opened twenty-two years ago today by Queen Elizabeth II

Flintshire Bridge, the ‘New Bridge’ or the ‘Bridge to Nowhere” call it what you want, there’s no denying the asymmetric cable-stayed bridge spanning the Dee Estuary is a thing of absolute beauty.

Work on the the bridge began in 1994 and was completed in 1997 at a total cost of £55m.

The 965 ft long bridge carries the A548 linking Flint and Connah’s Quay to the shore north of the River Dee at the southern end of the Wirral Peninsula, it reaches an impressive 387ft into the air.

The bridge was designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership, an award-winning British architectural practice which designed a number of landmark buildings in the UK including the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

It was paid for by the Welsh Office with maintenance costs later picked up by Flintshire County Council.

According to traffic data the bridge carries around 13,000 vehicles daily however that is set to increase as the bridge forms part of the Welsh Government “red” route – the preferred option for the A494/A55/A548 £200m upgrade.

The red route involves a new road between the A55 and A458 via the Flintshire Bridge and a new junction to join the A55 near Northop/Flint Mountain.

Video below is from a programme about the construction of the bridge.

It covers the initial planning, the design by Gifford Graham & Partners, followed by its construction which began in August 1994.

The programme runs right through to the official opening by Her Majesty The Queen on the 6th March 1998

River Dee Flintshire Bridge construction video (1998) from Mills Media Creative on Vimeo.

Last year the bridge was given a staring role in the new Ford Transit advert.

Filming took place on the bridge on March 9, it was closed for nearly nine hours while film crews both on the bridge and in a helicopter shot the scenes.