Avonmouth Bridge

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**Avonmouth Bridge**

Carries	8 lanes of the M5 motorway Bridleway
Crosses	River Avon, Bristol
Locale	Shirehampton, England
Design	Cantilever
Longest span	164 metres (538 ft)
Total length	1,388 metres (4,553 ft)
Width	40.38 metres (132.5 ft)
Clearance below	30.48 metres (100 ft) at maximum
Opening date	May 1974

The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon near Bristol in the United Kingdom. The main span is 164m long, and the bridge is 1,388m long. It also contains a separate bridleway for foot passengers, bicycles and mopeds. The bridge was built with 3 lanes each way, with full hard shoulders, although from 2002-2004 it was widened to 4 lanes each way, although the hard shoulders are no longer of a full width. It can become a severe bottleneck in rush hour and in the summer tourist season as the steep slopes of the bridge to allow tall ships to go underneath causes lorries and other such vehicles to slow down, causing traffic to stack up both on the bridge and on the approaches.

[edit] Surface

The approach and initial climb up the bridge have a very smooth asphalt surface, however on the top of the bridge the surface is very uneven and bumpy. On September 28, 2006, it was announced that the entire bridge would be resurfaced, only five years after that had last been completed.