3. Reality

In the case of the HumberBridge, the reality wasn’t quite as successful as the ideology suggested. Although it is without doubt an engineering master piece, the bridge does have its major draw backs stemming to before the construction of the bridge was even begun. The bridge mainly came about due to political reasons. When Harold Wilson had a low majority in the 1966 bi- elections, it forced Labour’s then minister for transport, Barbara Castle, to give Hull its Humber Bridge in hope of hanging on to the Hull north seat and maintaining a labour majority. This was seen as bad timing by many who questioned the build but did, however, lead directly to its construction. Also, the bridge had major construction issues, some of which still exist today. The main issue with the bridge’s construction, however, was not to do with the structure itself but to do with the state of the construction industry in the late 1970’s. At the time of the 3 day week, wage restraint and strikes, people wondered whether this majorly expensive piece of infrastructure was worth the money, being deemed by critics as ‘the bridge from nowhere to nowhere’.

The major issue, however, which is a daunting reality, is how much the bridge cost to build and finance. The initial idea was that the bridge was going to pay for itself though tolls. However, up to April 2012 when the government intervened to reduce tolls, they kept on rising, which was a major issue for the bridge users. Even as the tolls kept on rising, so did the debt, way beyond the rates of inflation. In 1996, the British Parliament passed the HumberBridge (Debts) Act 1996 to reorganize the Humber Bridge Board’s debts to ensure the bridge could be safely maintained. Although a significant proportion of the debt was suspended in that refinancing arrangement, there was no write-off of debt and the suspended portion is being gradually re-activated as the Bridge Board pays off the remainder of the active debt. The Humber Bridge Board applied to the Department of Transport in 2010, to raise the tolls from April 2011, but the Government ordered a public inquiry to be held into the application and a three-day public inquiry was held in Hull in early March 2011 (News Humberside, 2010).  However in October 2011 the prices rose to the highest prices of any toll road in the UK. In the 2011 Autumn statement chancellor George Osborn  announced the government would to reduce the bridge’s debt by £150m, meaning a single crossing for a car will go down to £1.50 from £3 with the four local councils to the bridge underwriting the remaining bridge debt (News Humberside, 2011)

Also, current maintenance costs add to the bridge’s debt and are paid for by tolls. Although this was thought about at the time of construction, the construction techniques and limitations available meant the Humber bridge was built in the traditional suspension bridge fashion, with the two main cables being made up of 15,000 small cables which each run across the bridge 4 times back and forth to hold it up. This makes replacing the cables extremely difficult compared to more modern suspension bridges, such as the new ForthRoadBridge, in which the cables can be replaced individually, reducing time, cost and disruption to traffic due to repairs.