2006: The Debut of the Celtic Gateway Bridge in Wales

October 19, 2006

The Celtic Gateway Bridge in Wales was opened for use. This stainless steel pedestrian and cycle bridge is located in Holyhead, the largest town and community within the Isle of Anglesey (a county off the northwestern coast of Wales). The Celtic Gateway Bridge was officially inaugurated by Andrew Davies (born in 1952), who served as the Welsh Government’s minister for economic development and transport from 2003 to 2007.

The 520-foot (160-meter)-long Celtic Gateway Bridge crosses the body of water known as Old Holyhead Harbour. This bridge connects both the Holyhead railway station (the western terminus of the North Wales Coast Line) and local ferry port with Holyhead’s town center. Along with accommodating pedestrians and bicyclists, the Celtic Gateway Bridge in its entirety is accessible to other human-powered means of mobility such as wheelchairs and baby strollers.

Another distinguishing feature of the Celtic Gateway Bridge involves its artworks. These creations include a series of bronze plaques featuring images of “sun boats” (referring to the ancient Celtic people and their worship of the Sun); and Venetian glass mosaics that were made by British artist Gary Drostle (born in 1961).

Photo Credit: Eric Jones (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Celtic Gateway Bridge, please check out https://structurae.net/en/structures/the-celtic-gateway-bridge