A New Tyne Bridge

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100 years ago a young engineer named Thomas Webster proposed a new Tyne Bridge to cross between Newcastle's Pilgrim Street and Gateshead High Street. This was the genesis of the current Tyne Bridge... but Webster's 1922 design looked very different to the famous steel arch:

Webster's plan for a new Tyne Bridge was not the first. Here's one from 1899. Viewed from the High Level Bridge, you can see it sits in the same position as the current Tyne Bridge but it's a suspension bridge rather than an arch. How different Tyneside might have looked...

Thomas Webster said a new Tyne Bridge was the solution to the "Trans-Tyne Traffic Problem". The existing Swing, High Level and Redheugh bridges were clogged with trams, carts, and motor cars. This 1924 photo shows traffic snaking up Bottle Bank from the open Swing Bridge:

In 1923, a joint council of Tyneside planning committees discussed alternative proposals for crossing the Tyne—three bridges and a tunnel. Newcastle Council favoured a crossing known as the Pelaw Bridge, two miles downstream of the city centre.

Webster's proposal for a new Tyne Bridge was ignored until Stephen Easten became Lord Mayor of Newcastle in 1924. Easten became the driving force behind the Tyne Bridge project. This is Mayor Easten with Newcastle's 1924 FA Cup-winning captain Frank Hudspeth:

During his year as mayor in 1924, Stephen Easten corralled local government, lobbied parliament, obtained a huge Ministry of Transport grant, and appointed Dorman Long to build the new Tyne Bridge. Easten returned as mayor in 1928 when the new bridge was opened by George V.

Thomas Webster never got the credit he felt he deserved for the Tyne Bridge proposal during his lifetime, despite campaigns by his supporters. But when he died in 1962, newspapers finally gave him his due, calling him the Father of the Tyne Bridge.

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