Iconic structure

The Transporter Bridge 
The remarkable Newport Transporter Bridge is one of only six operational transporter bridges left world wide from a total of twenty constructed. The bridge opened in 1906 and has dominated the Newport skyline since.


The transporter bridge at Newport, Monmouthshire, is a landmark that can be seen for twenty miles or more from both sides of the Bristol Channel. It is not unique in Britain, for there are others at Widnes and Middlesbrough, but it has been said that the Newport bridge is a work of art and the finest of its type in Britain. Its light, graceful lines have endeared it to the hearts of the people of Newport. The bridge at Widnes is scheduled to be demolished in the near future, but Newport's bridge will continue to fulfil its original purpose of providing an adequate river-crossing and, according to the Borough Engineer, Mr. E. A. Middle, it still has a reasonably useful life.

Just at the turn of the century transporter bridges were fashionable, particularly on the Continent, where a French engineer, M. F. Arnodin, had built this type of bridge across the Seine at Rouen, at Rochefort and Nantes. He also built one at Bizerta, in Tunis, and is famed for his Pont Transbordeur at Marseilles, which was destroyed in World War II.
 Members of Newport Corporation visited Rouen to inspect the bridge there, after which it was decided to invite Arnodin to design a bridge for their city, in collaboration with their Borough Engineer, Mr. Robert H. Haynes. Work began in the autumn of 1902 and four years later, without a life having been lost in constructing this Colossus of steel and wire, the bridge was officially opened by the then Lord Lieutenant of the county, the Rt. Hon. Viscount Tredegar, on 12th September, 1906.
Despite the rain, which continued to fall all the afternoon, some 600 guests who had been officially invited to the ceremony and thousands of Newport citizens arrived on the banks of the Usk at noon for the great event. The Mayor greeted Lord Tredegar on the west bank, after which the Lord Lieutenant boarded the platform and worked the controller. Almost imperceptibly at first the platform moved away from the bank and slowly gathered speed. The crowds cheered along the gaily decorated river banks, detonators were exploded and the band of the 4th Battalion of the South Wales Borderers played the National Anthem.