Queen opens £8 million crossing
Last year marked the 50th full year of operation for the Severn Bridge. HM the Queen cut the ribbon on September 8, 1966 after a three-and-a-half year build that cost £8 million and replaced the Aust ferry (see below, with the bridge under construction behind it).
That bridge carried the M4 for 30 years, but when the Second Severn Crossing opened in 1996 the first bridge and the road sections at each end were re-designated as the M48. Here we see the bridge from the Gloucestershire side on or shortly after the day of opening.
People have flocked to the new structure and are parked up for a breather on this little apron near the footpath down to Aust Cliffs (behind the fence on the left).
Overheating problems
It looks as though a few visitors have overheated in the resulting traffic jam – we count at least 15 bonnets raised! Nearest to us are a Duo-tone Morris Oxford Series IV and a Ford Zephyr 4 with the ghost of a Sunbeam Alpine pulling up alongside in this long-exposure photo. Further forward is another Zephyr, this time a MKII Farnham estate with a new front wing.
Clockwise from left we find a Cortina MKI, a 105E Anglia, another Duo-tone Oxford Series IV and then another Anglia, this time a Super. Further right are two Vauxhalls – an FC Victor partly hidden by the Zephyr estate and another FC, a two-tone 101 Deluxe estate in front of a black Morris Minor.
In the colour shot (below, right) are a Morris Mini-minor, a Rover P5 with what looks like a P4 in front of it, while a Vauxhall EIX Velox tiptoes off the ferry’s ramp.