July 2, 1971
In west-central Scotland, the Erskine Bridge was formally opened. This cable-stayed box girder bridge, which crosses the River Clyde, serves as a link between the local government council areas of West Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire. (The bridge is located in the vicinity of the Renfrewshire town of Erskine.) The Erskine Bridge was designed by structural engineer William Brown (1928-2005). Civil engineer Oleg Kerensky (1905-1984) helped supervise the construction of this bridge.
Those attending the inauguration of the Erskine Bridge included Princess Anne (born in 1950), the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and Prince Philip (1921-2021). “Princess Charming . . . That was the name the people of West Dumbartonshire gave to her royal highness Princess Anne when she opened the £10 million Erskine Bridge,” reported the Lennox Herald. This article further stated, “Pipes skirled and the sun shone brightly as the Princess made her way to the flower bedecked dais to perform the opening ceremony.”
After being handed a pair of silver scissors, Princess Anne cut a tartan ribbon spread across the northbound section of the bridge. She was then driven to the center of the bridge, all the while waving to the large crowd gathered for the ceremony. With the men who helped build the Erskine Bridge standing nearby with their wives, the princess unveiled a plaque commemorating the structure’s official debut.
Measuring 4,336.8 feet (1,321.9 meters) in length, the Erskine Bridge is part of the M898 motorway. This one-mile (1.6-kilometer)-long motorway is a spur route of the 60-mile (97-kilometer)-long M8 motorway. The Erskine Bridge is used not only for motor vehicles but also by cyclists and pedestrians.
Photo Credit: Baaker 2009 from Dumbarton (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)
For more information on the Erskine Bridge, please check out https://www.scottishroadsarchive.org/erskine-bridge
A video of the 1971 opening of this bridge can be viewed at https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/97659/
Transportation History 