Erskine Bridge

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**Erskine Bridge**
View of the Erskine Bridge from the Clyde Walkway.
Official name	Erskine Bridge
Carries	Motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
Crosses	River Clyde
Locale	Erskine, Scotland
Design	Box girder bridge
Longest span	524 m (1719 ft)
Width	Dual two-lane carriageway, two cycle/footpaths (total width 33 m)
AADT	~26,000 vehicles
Opening date	July 2, 1971
Toll	Free
Coordinates	55°55′13″N, 4°27′44″W

The Erskine Bridge is a cable-stayed box girder bridge spanning the River Clyde in west central Scotland, connecting West Dunbartonshire with Renfrewshire. During construction of the bridge, a major collapse of a bridge of a similar construction, saw re-calculations in the design and it was found that it would fail to meet in the middle. As a result two large cable-stays were added to the box girder structure as support.

The bridge was designed by William Brown and opened on July 2, 1971 by Princess Anne. It has two 524m main spans and two 68m approach spans.

The bridge connects the M8 motorway at Erskine in Renfrewshire on the south side to the A82 road at Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire on the northern side. The bridge itself is the A898 road and its short approach from the south is the M898 motorway. The Erskine Bridge is the most downstream of all the Clyde bridges, and is the last point at which the estuary can be crossed by road. Its main function is to divert traffic away from Glasgow and the urban stretches of the A82 which run through the city's West End and outer suburbs. As a result, the bridge is heavily used by tourist traffic bound for the north west Highlands.

As part of a trunk road, it is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive, and was only one of three toll bridges in Scotland when the tolls were abolished on 31 March 2006, the others being the Forth Road Bridge and the Tay Road Bridge. The bridge had (briefly) been free of charge before - in 2001 an oversight caused the legislative order enforcing the toll to lapse and drivers crossed uncharged until the new order was enforced.

Its current traffic levels are estimated at 26,000 vehicles per day. For many years the bridge was considered something of a white elephant given its elaborate design yet relatively low traffic levels compared to the crumbling Kingston Bridge further upstream. It is expected to have a major increase in traffic since toll removal.

On 4 August 1996 the bridge was damaged when an oil rig being towed down the River Clyde collided with the deck. The bridge re-opened to pedestrians and cyclists on 22 August, to cars and motorcycles on 30 August and to Heavy Goods Vehicles on 22 December 1996. The cost of the repairs was GBP 3.6 million with a further GBP 700,000 in lost revenue from tolls.