Erskine Bridge

The Erskine Bridge, built between 1967 and 1971, is a large, mono cable-stayed motorway road bridge that spans the River Clyde, located 12 kilometers west of Glasgow. It is part of the A898 spur of the M8 motorway, which runs northwards across the Clyde into West Dunbartonshire.

Designed by Freeman Fox & Partners for the Erskine Bridge Joint Committee, the project was led by Dr. Oleg Kerensky, with Dr. William Brown as the chief design engineer under the supervision of Sir Gilbert Roberts. The piers and foundations were designed by W. A. Fairhurst & Partners, while R. E. Slater served as the consultant architect.

The bridge features a central span of 305 meters (1,000 feet), flanked by anchor spans of 110 meters each, making the total length, including approach spans, 1,322 meters. Its aerofoil box-girder deck is supported by fourteen diamond-plan, single-shaft concrete piers, which reach a maximum height of 45 meters above the river. Two central pylons rise 38 meters above the deck level, with a 6x4 cluster of galvanized steel cables passing over the saddle of each pylon in a centralized, single plane.

The dual carriageway includes cycle lanes and footpaths, equipped with metal safety barriers that were renewed in 2012. The underside of the deck houses four water mains pipes and two gas pipes. In 2017, the cables were painted, and aluminum lighting columns were installed.