Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Swing Bridge Connections : Penarth Dock, River Taff and Glamorganshire Canal . . .

; and the construction of these docks increased the necessity for a more direct route of communication between the towns. It is to facilitate this communication that the new road has been constructed.

The harbour at Cardiff is open to the east, and on its northern side it receives the river Taff, which flows past the western side of the town of Cardiff. The new road which branches from the old Penarth road, about a mile from Cardiff, has consequently to cross the river Taff, and it does this just at the point where the river joins the harbour. As it approaches the western side of the river, the road rises at a gradient of 1 in 408, and this portion of the road is carried on an embankment which extends out into the river to near high-water neap tides. the embankment is succeeded by a viaduct composed of a series of eleven openings of 30 ft. each, each span consisting of four wrought-iron plate girders supported by timber piers.

Fig. 1 - A side elevation of the swing bridge over the River Taff. [520]

The viaduct just mentioned extends to the navigable channel of the river, and this channel is spanned by one arm of the swing bridge shown in Fig. 1 of our engravings. This bridge gives two clear openings of 60 ft. each, and it is supported by a pier 20 ft. in diameter, placed towards the eastern side of the navigable channel of the river. On the eastern side of the swing bridge another viaduct of 30 ft. openings commence, this viaduct extending to the embankment by which the road is carried on the Cardiff side of the stream. Between the river Taff and the town of Cardiff the road has to cross the Glamorganshire Canal, and over this it is carried by the swing bridge shown in Fig. 6. Further on there is also another viaduct carrying the road over the canal overflow.