Milestone for bridge
Looking back at 50 years of monument
Here’s the second part of our homage to the Erskine Bridge, which linked Renfrewshire to Dunbartonshire for the first time.
The re-enactment of a ceremony to mark the golden age of the Erskine Bridge has been put on ice.
That’s why we thought we would help celebrate the milestone moment.
The big bridge turns 50 in July - and the communities on both banks were planning to march to the middle .
The moment would have mirrored the occasion in 1971 when the landmark was declared open by Princess Anne.
Yesterday we published the first 25 facts about the concrete and steel giant.
Today is the final 25, to complete one fact for every year of its operation.
Erskine and Old Kilpatrick Community Councils have postponed celebrations until the pandemic situation becomes clearer.
After a symbolic meeting at the centre-point, a party in the park was planned.
The Erskine Bridge opened on July 2,1971, and a plaque half way across on the downstream side still marks the moment.
Its arrival meant curtains for the old ferry across the Clyde to Old Kilpatrick.
The Erskine link came just a year after the next bridge up river in Glasgow - the Kingston - opened.
Since then it has become a much needed part of the roads system and an icon of the West of Scotland landscape.
Sadly, it is also a place of great tragedy, with hundreds of suicides.
In some years, more than 30 tragically fell to their deaths with the total now thankfully reduced due to curving safety barriers.
•If you have any memories or old photographs to help celebrate the ‘old girl’ send them to stephen. houston@reachplc.com
The Erskine link came just a year after the next bridge up river in Glasgow - the Kingston - opened.