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The Humber Bridge, near Kingston upon Hull, England, is a single-span suspension bridge, which opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. It was the longest of its type in the world when opened, and is now the seventh-longest. It spans the Humber (the estuary formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse) between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Hessle on the north bank, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. When it opened in 1981 both sides of the bridge were in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside until its dissolution in 1996. The bridge itself can be seen for miles around and as far as Ottringham in the East Riding of Yorkshire. , the bridge carried an average of 120,000 vehicles per week.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title= Traffic statistics 1996–2006 )〕 The toll was £3.00 each way for cars (higher for commercial vehicles), which made it the most expensive toll crossing in the United Kingdom. As of 1 April 2012, the toll was reduced to £1.50 each way after the UK government deferred £150 million from the bridge's current debt. ==History== Before the bridge opening, commuters would go from one bank to the other either by using the Humber Ferry that ran between Corporation Pier at Hull and New Holland Pier at New Holland, Lincolnshire or by driving via the M62 (from 1976), M18 (from 1979) and M180 motorways, crossing the River Ouse near Goole (connected to the Humber) in the process. Until the mid-1970s, the route south was via the single-carriageway A63 and the A614 road (via grid-locked Thorne where it met the busy A18 and crossed the Stainforth and Keadby Canal at a swing bridge bottleneck, and then on through Finningley and Bawtry, meeting the east-west A631 road). The journey was a series of straight single-carriageway roads across foggy moors interrupted by predictable bottlenecks for most of the journey to Blyth, Nottinghamshire, where it met the A1. The accident rate was consequently high, and the journey of most of Hull's traffic was similar to that faced by much of Lincolnshire's drivers today. Debates in Parliament were held on the low standard of the windy route across the wind-swept plains around Goole. It not unexpected that under these conditions, a Humber Bridge, with connecting dual-carriageway approach roads, and grade-separated junctions, would seem worthwhile. By the time the bridge opened, much of this well-below-standard route had been transformed by dualling of the A63 and its bypasses, the extension of the M62, and the much-needed connecting of the M18 from Thorne to Wadworth. The obvious need for a Humber Bridge had largely been tempered by the late 1970s with the much-improved motorway infrastructure of the region. Although welcome, the timing of these improvements would detract any significant levels of traffic needing to cross a bridge from Hessle to Barton. The Humber Bridge would be a victim of the M62's success, before opening. There was also a short-lived hovercraft service; Minerva and Mercury linked Hull Pier and Grimsby Docks from February to October 1969, but suffered frequent mechanical failures. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Humber Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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