An integral part of the Tyne and Wear Metro system and a now-familiar feature of the Tyneside skyline, the Byker Viaduct opened 40 years ago.
Along with the construction of the QEII Metro Bridge over the River Tyne, Byker Viaduct became a major engineering centrepiece as the system took shape between 1974 and 1980. The crossing was purpose-built to span the Ouseburn Valley, connecting the Metro system from the centre of Newcastle through to the east end of the city and on to the coast.
Construction took place between 1976 and 1979 and was one of the biggest civil engineering challenges in the building of the Metro system. The new bridge carried its first trains on November 11, 1982, when the St James to Tynemouth section of the Metro line first opened.
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The viaduct is 800 metres in length, and at its highest point is 70 metres above the ground. A pioneering construction method was used to build it - a first for the construction industry in Britain. It was the first such structure in the country to be built using cantilevered concrete sections with glued joints.
Work began by erecting the reinforced concrete piers to support the deck of the bridge. In Byker this meant building above the nearby roads serving the Fossway and Shields Road.
A total of 253 concrete segments were cast on-site before being expertly lifted into place with a crane and secured using an epoxy resin and steel cables. Each segment of the bridge weighs 40 tonnes.
The S-shaped bridge would offer commuters memorable views of Newcastle and the River Tyne – all from the windows of the carriages it was built to carry.
The Metro Viaduct is one of the three bridges that span the Ouseburn Valley side-by-side. The Ouseburn Railway Viaduct opened in 1839 to a design by John and Benjamin Green, the father and son architects also responsible for Newcastle’s Theatre Royal and Grey’s Monument.
Next, in 1878, came Byker Bridge which would carry road traffic and, in its early days, charged a halfpenny toll to cross. Finally, in 1982, came the Metro viaduct - built for the new rapid transit system that would revolutionise commuter travel around Tyneside.
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