Engineering Management of the Tamar Bridge

Abstract

The Tamar Bridge (Fig. 1) was constructed within the period 1959–61 as a private toll crossing for the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee, comprising representatives of the Cornwall County Council and the Plymouth City Council. Since the end of the maintenance period, the engineers responsible for the design and supervision of construction (Mott, Hay and Anderson) have been retained by the joint committee to undertake an annual inspection of the bridge and its immediate approaches, and to report and make recommendations on any necessary maintenance. Apartfrom small or ad hoc items arranged through the joint engineers, the county surveyor of Cornwall and the City Engineer of Plymouth, subsequent works have invariably been arranged and supervised by those same consultants who, through close liaison with the bridge owners and their staff, have effectively provided a professional service for the long-term management of maintenance activities by forecasting financial commitments and arranging the operations around the increasingly restrictive limitations imposed by traffic densities.