The Humber Bridge

The Humber Bridge, near Kingston upon Hull, England, is a single-span suspension bridge, which opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. When it was opened, it was the longest of its type in the world until it was surpassed in 1998 with the completion of the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, now it is the eighth-longest. It spans the Humber (the estuary formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse) between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Hessle on the north bank, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. When it opened in 1981 both sides of the bridge were in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside until its dissolution in 1996. The bridge itself can be seen for miles around and as far as Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is a Grade I listed building. By 2006 the bridge carried an average of 120,000 vehicles per week. The toll was £3.00 each way for cars (higher for commercial vehicles), which made it the most expensive toll crossing in the United Kingdom. In April 2012, the toll was halved to £1.50 each way after the UK government deferred £150 million from the bridge's outstanding debt.