The River Tyne crossings that might have been

THE Journal recently reported on the intriguing possibility that a new footbridge might be built across the River Tyne.

- DAVID MORTON

An aerial view of the River Tyne

(Photo: Owen Humphries/ Press Association)

Images released by Newcastle City Council reveal a vision for a riverside development called Forth Yards, which over the next 20 years would see 2,500 new homes built west of the city centre.

The proposals include the potential for a new footbridge connecting Newcastle and Gateshead.

The pedestrian crossing would be located next to the Redheugh Bridge, offering a new connection across the river at the western end of the Quayside. Only time will tell whether plans for the bridge might ever see the light of day.

Here we recall a selection of River Tyne crossings that would have been part of a very different Newcastle and Gateshead riverscape, but never made it past the drawing board.

In an era characterised by steam and soot, the Tyne Improvement Commission proposed something strikingly modern - a tunnel beneath the river, linking Newcastle and Gateshead. Conceived in 1864, it would be three metres wide, 174 metres long, and buried 12 metres below the riverbed, near the future site of the Swing Bridge.