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Tinsley Viaduct


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TINSLEY VIADUCT

pictured above - the viaduct and meadowhall

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsley_viaduct

Tinsley Viaduct is a two-tier road bridge in Sheffield, England; the first of its kind in the country. It carries the M1 and the A631 some 1033 metres over the Don Valley, from Tinsley to Wincobank. It is located at 53°25′N 1°24′W.

The viaduct was opened in March 1968 and cost £6 million to build. The bridge has since been strengthened, in 1983 and again recently, with work finished in spring 2006. Although originally designed to carry 6 lanes, during the strengthening work the M1 was reduced to 4 lanes following an EU directive on load bearing. This arrangement has now been made permanent to allow the third lane in each direction to join from J34 to make the very busy junction safer.

The viaduct is balanced on rollers to allow for thermal expansion and contraction, and the route weaves slightly in order to make its way past other buildings. As things currently stand, the Meadowhall Shopping Centre lies in the valley to the west, while to the east is the Blackburn Meadows sewage works.

The viaduct is one of Sheffield's most prominent landmarks, made all the more so by the adjacent pair of cooling towers that were left standing for safety reasons after the demolition of the Blackburn Meadows power station. Both the viaduct and the cooling towers continue to be the subject of local controversy — many criticise the viaduct as unsafe and constantly under repair, and others consider the cooling towers an eye-sore that should be pulled down.

More From Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinsley_viaduct

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Noooooooooooooooo, they can't be pulled down. I always knew we were home when I saw them when I was ikkle :(

SAVE THE COOLING TOWERS!!!

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Boooooooooooo.

They should be done up with the Sheffield badge and Rotherham's if they have one.

They need to be kept.

I might just cry if they do go.

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A story from a good few years back that may or may not be true - but good fun either way...

Apparently, Guinness were set to buy the towers and paint them black and tan, with the Guinness logo on them - like two MASSIVE pints of Guinness. They are even said to have commissioned a glass factory to produce prototype new-style Guinness pint glasses in the shape of the towers and were going to change the traditional 'straight' glasses to these in England only.

It is said the expense of buying and painting the towers, coupled with rumours they might get pulled down with the building of a Sheffield airport (which was still under devlopment and location had not been finalised for) ended the intrest from the drinks manufacturer.

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"Plans to demolish the Tinsley Cooling towers postponed .. the company says it is still going ahead but not before Christmas .. they had hoped to do it before end of yr but it requires M1 to be closed & highways agency say they cant do that until new year"

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These are shots taken from The Full Monty

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2007/post-1-1172950069.jpghttp://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2007/post-1-1172950077.jpg

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Guest tsavo

These are shots taken from The Full Monty

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2007/post-1-1172950069.jpghttp://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2007/post-1-1172950077.jpg

I think they should have giant daffodils planted in the top. Brightening everyone's day

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ha ha ha !!!

I still like the idea of them being made into huge pints of guiness

:D

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Thanks to 28dayslater - quite simply the most amazing photographs of the towers EVER

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Guest The General

Thanks to 28dayslater - quite simply the most amazing photographs of the towers EVER

Awesome images!

The General

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I seem to remember that the first time repairs were carried out to the viaduct, the engineers said that some of the weakness in the steel structure was due to the workers who originally built it p**ing against the uprights in lieu of a convenient tree!

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Guest tsavo

The bridge is of the "Box Girder" type of construction. Even before it was built, this was a design known to have problems due to the collapse of a similar bridge's in Australia. Despite the government of the day being made aware of this, construction went ahead anyway. Presumably they hoped there would be a 'fix' found at sometime in the future. The length of time the viaduct has been under repair suggests this just didn't happen.

see Wiki entry for Box Girder bridges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_girder_bridge

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Guest ViHan

Shame these towers have to come down,. I live very close to them.. I see them out of my bedroom window.

The night of the Earthquake we thought that the towers had been blown up! lol

We will have a birds eye view of the blowdown when it happens :blink: Its been out off and out off so many times though no one is sure when it will be!

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Just been announced on Radio Sheffield that August 24 is the Demolition day. Workers have been drilling holes in the base ready for the explosives. Another dark day looms in Sheffields history.

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Just been announced on Radio Sheffield that August 24 is the Demolition day. Workers have been drilling holes in the base ready for the explosives. Another dark day looms in Sheffields history.

Video from BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7530012.stm

As the man says "What do they want to do that for? All our history's going"

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