The Infinity Bridge is a public pedestrian and cycle footbridge across the River Tees in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, built at a cost of £15 million and officially opened in May 2009. The name derives from the infinity symbol formed by the bridge and its reflection. In May 2010, lighting architects Speirs and Major Associates won the Excellence Award for their work on the Infinity Bridge at the International Association of Lighting Designers awards in Las Vegas.
The bridge is a dual, tied arch bridge or bowstring bridge and no other bridge is known to have quite the same design.
The bridge deck is 5m wide and 4m between its handrails. The main arch of the bridge is 120m long, weighing 300 tonnes, 32m tall with its top 40m above the Tees and the short arch is 60m long and 16 m tall.
A special feature of the bridge is the way it is illuminated at night. The bridge handrails and footway are lit with blue and white LED lighting built into the handrail that changes colour as pedestrians walk across. Attached to the steel cable ties are white up-lighters to illuminate the white painted bridge arches, and blue LED down-lighters to illuminate the water and ground surfaces immediately below the deck. At night from certain viewing angles when the river surface is flat calm, the twin arches together with their reflection in the river appear as an infinity symbol 8 - and it is this effect that inspired its name.
Location: Infinity bridge, Stockton on Tees
Photographer: brian swales
