Avonmouth Bridge

The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon into Somerset near Bristol, England. The main span is long, and the bridge is long, with an air draught above mean high water level of . It also contains a separate footpath and cycleway.

The bridge was built with three lanes each way, with full hard shoulders. From 2002 to 2004, it was widened to four lanes each way, resulting in the hard shoulders no longer being of full width.

The bridge was built to allow tall ships underneath. This gave the bridge steep gradients that cause heavy vehicles to slow down, resulting in congestion during rush hour and the summer tourist season: traffic can stack up both on the bridge and on the approaches.

Surface

The approach and initial climb up the bridge have a smooth asphalt surface, however on the top of the bridge the surface is uneven and bumpy. In September 2006, it was announced that the entire bridge would be resurfaced, only five years after that had last been completed. This was completed in November 2009 by the construction firm Stirling Lloyd. However the surfacing was carried out by Swiss firm Aeschlimann using their own workforce and also importing all the plant used. A revolutionary new asphalt called Gussasphalt was used on the bridge deck. Gussasphalt is Aeschlimanns flagship product, in addition to a smooth skid resistant finish, it requires no compaction and can be applied in very thin layers, thus reducing the weight added to the...
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