Sonnenberg

Zoë Sonnenberg


 * The bridge I researched is called the Gateshead Millenium Bridge.

        
 * It was built in Gateshead, England. Construction on the bridge began in 1999, and the bridge was finished and opened to the public in 2001.
 * The purpose of this bridge is to connect Gateshead with Newcastle, which is across the river Tyne. Although there are other bridges connecting these towns, this bridge is only for pedestrians and bicycles. The bridge also needed to allow boats to sail underneath.
 * The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is a tilt bridge, the only of it's kind. It has two large motors at either end, and it rotates periodically to allow boats to sail below. Tilt bridges are most like drawbridges, and are often referred to as "Eyelid" bridges because they look like an eye from above when in the tilted position.
 * The Gateshead Millenium Bridge cost over £22 million, or about $33 million.
 * The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is made of steel, concrete, and frosted glass. It contains enough steel to make 64 double decker buses.
 * <span style="background-color: #267878; color: #31c431; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The engineers of the Millenium Gateshead Bridge were assigned to make a bridge that was modern, allowed pedestrians and bicycles, allowed people to see the six other bridges along the river. It achieved this by having the bridge rotate to let boats pass underway.
 * <span style="background-color: #800080; color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It took five years to design and build this bridge, but only three years from the start of construction to the official opening. It was designed by Wilkinson Eyer Architects, and built by Gifford Engineers.
 * <span style="background-color: #000080; color: #00fffa; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is 126 meters long, with a pedestrian walkway that varies from 3 to 5 meters in width. The separate bicycling path is about 2 1/2 meters wide. When in it's upright position, it is 50 meters from the top of the arch to the top of the water, and when in it's tilted position it is 25 meters from the bottom of the bridge to the water.
 * <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Gateshead Millenium Bridge was minted onto a one pound (£) coin in 2007.
 * <span style="background-color: #902790; color: #00fffa; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Gateshead Millenium Bridge can clean itself up by rolling any litter dropped onto it into hidden garbage traps at both ends of the bridge when it tilts open or closed.