York Central Bridges

York Central is a 45ha area of brownfield land adjacent to York railway station and the National Railway Museum. It will provide 2,500 homes and 120,000 m2 of office, leisure and retail. Phase 1 will include the construction a new pedestrian and cycle bridge on Water End and a new road bridge over the East Coast Main Line.

The 71m-span East Coast Main Line Bridge will act as a gateway to York Central. The 17m-wide deck hosts a two-lane road, segregated paths for pedestrians and cyclists on the eastern pavement and a dedicated pedestrian route on the western one. The composite weathering steel‐concrete structure combines half through arches and rigid frames. The pedestrian and vehicle safety parapets required over railway lines have been separated: concrete vehicular restraint systems along the road and glass parapets at the bridge edges to maximise transparency and views.

The Water End Foot and Cycle Bridge will be more understated. The 52m main span weathering steel structure will be constructed alongside an existing road bridge. It has a shared 4m-wide pedestrian and cyclist deck. To avoid having intermediate supports in the railway environment, the structure is a three-span beam with two hidden spans within the abutments. The asymmetric beam hides the adjacent concrete impact barrier of the existing road bridge. This allows the opposite side to be slender and transparent, providing views of the Minster, the railway, and the new development.