The New Kingsferry Bridge On The Isle Of Sheppey. The first rising-platform bridge to be built in twenty-five years is nearing completion on the only road to the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent. The original bridge - the only link between the island and the mainland - was built a hundred years ago, and has been damaged many times. Each time traffic was held up for days - sometimes weeks, and on one occasion a ferry was the form form of contact for a very long period. It was built under the guidance of Sir Benjamin Baker who was the consulting engineer for the Forth Bridge. Incidentally, the builders of this bridge are now concerned with the new Forth Bridge as well. The new bridge, which will link Sheppey with Sittingbourne (the nearest towns) over the River Swale, was scheduled to have been completed in 1961, but progress has been so good that it is now hoped to have it completed later this year. It will have a roadway nearly a hundred feet wide. The centre span will have a vertical lift rising 95 feet above the water. Operation will be by electricity. One tower is already in position and the other should be completed by the Summer. The total length of the bridge will be 60ft. The width of nearly a hundred feet will take a fifty foot carrriageway, a twenty-four foot railway track, and a six foot pathway. Two new approach roads have been constructed and these are three miles long. The work is being carried out by John Howard and Co., Ltd., and the cost is in the region of 拢1,000,000. Additionally, a tunnel is being bored beneath the bridge to carry the three services - electricity, gas and water mains. Photo shows: Isle of Sheppey's new bridge a view of one of the two 100ft towers which the centre vertical span will rise and fall. Kent, England. 12 April 1959.