User:SunStar Net/Olchfa footbridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olchfa footbridge is a pedestrian footbridge over the busy A4118 Gower Road near Olchfa school in Swansea, South Wales.
The bridge was built in the early-mid 1970s as a result of a series of accidents following the opening of Olchfa School in 1969. Once the bridge was erected, the staff at Olchfa school forbade pupils from crossing the road anywhere between Wimmerfield Drive in the west and Sketty Park Drive in the east.
The bridge is a two-span steel "I" beam beam bridge construction, with the supporting legs on the central reservation. To avoid reducing the visibility of eastbound traffic approaching the roundabout the support is slightly off centre, meaning the two spans are not quite the same length. It is built high enough to let lorries and double-decker busses underneath, although its position near the top of a slope makes it seem higher than most such bridges, particularly when approaching from the west. The only access to the bridge is via steps from the downhill side, meaning the bridge is not accessible for those in a wheelchair or with other mobility impairments.
In the early to mid 1990s a further road safety improvement scheme was built at this location. Two small roundabouts were built and a short section of dual carriageway constructed between them. The eastern roundabout gives access to Olchfa School on its south side and the Olchfa housing estate to its north. The western roundabout gives access to the Olchfa House pub and private residence to the south and Hendrefoelan Student Village, the principal off-campus accommodation site for Swansea University to the north. The Gower Road, the principal road between Swansea city centre and Sketty to the east and Killay and the northern and western parts of the Gower Peninsula Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west.
As a result of the road safety scheme, there are now flat crossings either side of the bridge - a two-stage crossing at the bottom of the hill by the western roundabout, although this does not give pedestrians priority; and a toucan crossing on the far side of the T-junction with Sketty Park Road to the east.
