As the new bridge over the river Mersey opened on the 14th of October 2017, this one closed for 12 months for painting and repairs.
Well October 2018 arrived, the bridge remained closed. As it did, through Octobers in the years 2019, and 2020 !!!
Despite the council, issuing a long list of "NEW' constantly changing dates as to when it was going to re-open. These all came and went, often with no comment apart from another fictional date being issued.
This image was taken a couple of hours before it finally opened.
On the 26th of February 2021 !!!!!
Thats a very long twelve months even for a Council's timescale !
To add insult to injury, this bridge opened originally in July 1961, was free to use for over 56 years. It is now TOLLED and costs £2 each way to cross !!
This and the other newer bridge ( also tolled), are the only link to get from one side of our town to the other side !!!!!!
A great photo and I love the POV. I tend to tilt my head to the left when I look at it. I guess I want to straighten the horizontal line of the top rail. Interesting how we all see things differently.
@suez1e Thank you Sue. There are a couple of reasons as to why this is at this angle. One, I wanted the white centre line to lead you into the image, but its not in the centre of the the bridge.
It used to have four lanes for traffic, very tight lanes. Since its reopened it now only has two slightly wider lanes that you can see. One in each direction. But behind that white kerb to the left is a third lane, which is a dedicated cycle lane. Which is why the central white traffic line isn't really central. Hence a slightly off centre position.
Pedestrians now have their own footpath, previously shared with cyclists which is on the outside of the bridge.
Another reason was that this was taken while the bridge was still closed, and there was security fencing to stop you getting underneath the arch.
By lying on the floor, i could get the camera underneath the fence, but the fence was held in place with large concrete blocks, one of which was just in the wrong place for where i really wanted to put the camera.
So its partly my choice of POV and also the closest i could get to it.
Now its open and clear, i might try one early summer morning, while theres hardly traffic using it, to slightly change my POV.
@markp I really appreciate your very detailed response to my comment which wasn't intended to be judgmental but just a comment. I am very much an amateur and a strong believer that there is no right or wrong to a photo. Ask 20 people and you will get 20 different answers. I'm a fan of your photos and style.
@suez1e Oh don't worry Sue, I didn't take it as judgmental. I just thought you might be interested in what was happening behind the camera, that I had carefully hidden. If you look down in the bottom left corner, you can just see the edge of the shadow cast by the large block. I couldn't push the camera any further forward and still use the controls.
Oh and that top rail is actually a moveable gantry which can travel from there up and over to the other side. It was previously used by the painters on the bridge, hanging by ropes.
They didn't use this time they painted the bridge. However, they lifted the gantry down to road level, serviced it, painted it and hoisted it back up there. Not sure if safety rules have changed.
March 5th, 2021
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It used to have four lanes for traffic, very tight lanes. Since its reopened it now only has two slightly wider lanes that you can see. One in each direction. But behind that white kerb to the left is a third lane, which is a dedicated cycle lane. Which is why the central white traffic line isn't really central. Hence a slightly off centre position.
Pedestrians now have their own footpath, previously shared with cyclists which is on the outside of the bridge.
Another reason was that this was taken while the bridge was still closed, and there was security fencing to stop you getting underneath the arch.
By lying on the floor, i could get the camera underneath the fence, but the fence was held in place with large concrete blocks, one of which was just in the wrong place for where i really wanted to put the camera.
So its partly my choice of POV and also the closest i could get to it.
Now its open and clear, i might try one early summer morning, while theres hardly traffic using it, to slightly change my POV.
Oh and that top rail is actually a moveable gantry which can travel from there up and over to the other side. It was previously used by the painters on the bridge, hanging by ropes.
They didn't use this time they painted the bridge. However, they lifted the gantry down to road level, serviced it, painted it and hoisted it back up there. Not sure if safety rules have changed.