page_title: Clifton Suspension Bridge
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Clifton Suspension Bridge / History / Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, illuminated at night
context_page_description: The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides funds for its maintenance. The bridge is built to a design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is a grade I listed building and forms part of the B3129 road.
  The idea of building a bridge across the Avon Gorge originated in 1753. Original plans were for a stone bridge and later iterations were for a wrought iron structure. In 1831, an attempt to build Brunel's design was halted by the Bristol riots, and the revised version of his designs was built after his death and completed in 1864. Although similar in size, the bridge towers are not identical in design, the Clifton tower having side cut-outs, the Leigh tower more pointed arches atop a 110-foot red sandstone-clad abutment. Roller-mounted "saddles" at the top of each tower allow movement of the three independent wrought iron chains on each side when loads pass over the bridge.
context_section_description: On 8 December 1864, the bridge was lit by magnesium flares for its ceremonial opening parade, but they were blown out by the wind. The custom of lighting the bridge has continued with more recent events, although later thousands of electric light bulbs were attached to the bridge instead of flares.
  In 1860 the Clifton Bridge Company was set up to oversee the final stages of completion and manage the operation of the bridge. They paid £50 each year to the trustees who gradually purchased the shares in the company. The revenues from tolls were minimal initially as there was not much traffic; however, this increased after 1920 with greater car ownership. In 1949 the trustees purchased all the outstanding shares and debentures. The bridge is managed by a charitable trust, originally formed by the Society of Merchant Venturers following Vick's bequest. The trust was authorised to manage the bridge and collect tolls by Acts of Parliament in 1952, 1980 and 1986. A toll of £0.50 has been levied on vehicles since 2007, but the £0.05 toll that the Act allows for cyclists or pedestrians is not collected. Human toll collectors were replaced by automated machines in 1975. The tolls are used to pay for the upkeep of the bridge, including the strengthening of the chain anchor points, which was done in 1925 and 1939, and regular painting and maintenance, which is carried out from a motorised cradle slung beneath the deck. By 2008 over 4 million vehicles crossed the bridge each year.
  In February 2012, the bridge trustees applied to the Department for Transport to increase the toll to £1, subsequently implemented on 24 April 2014.
  On 1 April 1979, the first modern bungee jumps were made from the bridge by members of the University of Oxford Dangerous Sports Club. In 2003 and 2004, the weight of crowds travelling to and from the Ashton Court Festival and Bristol International Balloon Fiesta put such great strain on the bridge that it was decided to close the bridge to all motor traffic and pedestrians during the events. The closure of the bridge for major annual events has continued each year since then.
  On 26 November 2003, the last ever Concorde flight (Concorde 216) flew over the bridge before landing at Filton Aerodrome. In April 2006, the bridge was the centrepiece of the Brunel 200 weekend, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. At the climax of the celebration a firework display was launched from the bridge. The celebrations also saw the activation of an LED-based lighting array to illuminate the bridge.
  On 4 April 2009, the bridge was shut for one night to allow a crack in one of the support hangers to be repaired. On 23 May 2012, the London 2012 Olympic Torch relay crossed over the bridge, where two of the torchbearers came together in a "kiss" to exchange the flame in the middle of Brunel's iconic landmark. The bridge carries four million vehicles per year, along part of the B3129 road. The bridge is a grade I listed building.
  In November 2011 it was announced that a new visitor centre, costing nearly £2 million, was to be built at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge to replace the temporary building currently being used. The new facilities were scheduled to be completed before the 150th anniversary of the opening, which was celebrated on 8 December 2014. In December 2012 it was announced that the bridge had received £595,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to improve the visitor centre.
caption: The bridge illuminated; these lights have since been replaced with LEDs
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