The tale I was told is simply that the steel option was £100k or so cheaper than the concrete option. No bribery involved. The construction of the M18, on the other hand...
My grandad was a steel erector on the viaduct, I found out after he passed my wife’s great uncle Stan was also a steel erector on the viaduct, after meeting him for the first time I mentioned my grandad to him and it turned out they were in the same steel erecting gang for 30 years and were very good mates along with my great uncle Percy . Fortunately Percy was still alive and I was able to reintroduce them to each other. Both passed on now but that’s my connection to the Tinsley Viaduct.
I've driven over that viaduct on the M1 countless times since the mid 80's and it's only today I found out it was tiered. Thank you for teaching me something I didn't know.
Yeah I always wonder just why I'm so high up on that bit, I don't dare look to the side - and now I know why, there's a whole bloody dual carriageway underneath!
It makes sense, as metals really just act like stiff springs, and when the cross section of the metal is small, as it is in this case, it isnt as stiff, so you feel that springy effect. Whats surprising to me is that such a big structure is able to be supported by such small steel beams
Yes, it's because part of it is actually sat on some springy rollers at one end. I believe it was constructed this way so that it could expand and contract with the seasons.
Nice to see you covering this structure in a highways inspector based in Sheffield and recently, with just my two brothers, carried out all the inspection works that have been taking place on and inside the confined spaces of the steel box sections throughout Tinsley Viaduct. As you mention it’s not in bad shape at all and inside the beams besides a few minor cracked welds is all well kept and repainted. 👍🏼
I’m guessing the minor cracking you found is fatigue cracking, you are arranging it to be drill stopped initially and then the welds removed with a cold cutting technique and re welded with a pwht.
In the ‘70s, I was involved with the “Merrison” Steel Box Beam stiffening project, spent months climbing inside these girders, seeing the welders installing additional webs to the originally designed stiffening webs. An amazing project. Note the failed girders failed during construction because at the time the method of installing this “new” technology wasn’t understood properly, these new box beams (at the time) could not withstand the unique forces introduced by cantilevering the girders into position, which was an age-old method that was safe for earlier bridge girder designs.
And that is the key lots and lots of paint ... as long as that is kept up it will last forever The tough part is getting in 2 these places to paint it ....
4:31 The 'diagonal supports' shown here are of relatively minor importance. The diagonal struts that were added in the 70s were the big beasties you can see at 4:38 - they went all the way from the base of each pier, past the lower decks and were fixed at the upper decks. This significanly increased the longitudinal stability. (source: I worked on this during the 2002/03 improvements you mentioned!)
If you drive on the lower deck during rush hour you get an odd sensation as you can feel the whole structure bouncing up and down as the motorway traffic flies along above you!
Yeah it's really disconcerting how the lower deck sways around like it's actually a rope bridge. As a Sheffield resident I try to avoid using it. Had more repairs than triggers sweeping brush 😂 they day it fails and collapses i won't be on it!
Cheers pal, I'm a Sheffielder and have always said Sheffield holds the whole of the north on its back. Finest people you'll meet the real Sheffielders although it's a very diverse city now and full of students from all over the place. I'm 56.
That's Yorkshire for you. It's gone up and it's staying up! Still be there in another 50 years. Miss those cooling towers though, such a great landmark / direction point.
After a shit day in the office working on a public sector contract and a shit tonne of beer to forget it I really appreciate the brutal sarcasm in this video... Top work 😁
There were many corporate sphincters twitching before and during the demolition, particularly when they didn't initially come fully down. Plans for the viaduct "becoming lost" were in place. It wouldn't have been pretty. At all.
My great grandad was a Scotsman who was contracted to weld large sections of the original structure. On the weekend he used to go dancing in Sheffield, where he met my great Grandma. So you could say this piece of road has a special meaning to our family
The upper deck in the 1980s and 1990s was 6 lanes of motorway with no hard shoulders, I used to drive along it in the left hand lane at 70mph flinching a bit at how close the fence to the edge was. Then a lane each way was turned into a hard shoulder and it stayed that way while the deck was widened to add an extra lane on each side. Finally it changed to 3 lanes with the new hard shoulders when it changed to a smart motorway a handful of years ago.
I spent weeks in the 80's testing the welds on the inside of the box sections we found that a the steel was a type that contained segregation and natural weaknesses that along with the weld design was considered a potential problem and months were taken to remove the welds [fillet] one at a time; and some of the steel sections and then replace with a new design of weld [penetrated]. these were examined using ultrasonic and surface testing. The plate work was then painted with anti corrosion paint which actually never dries.
I lived quite close to the Tinsley viaduct when I was studying in Sheffield and especially enjoyed this episode. The cooling towers were still there but much of the heavy industry in the Don Valley had closed. The buildings were still standing or were semi derelict. It was a few years before the Meadowhall retail park was built. For me whole area had a strange feel to it, with the viaduct and the towers along the skyline but factories that would once have been busy with thousands of workers empty or part demolished. You could see how this in turn had impacted local businesses leaving empty shops and boarded up pubs.
It is amazing how in 60s they were able to build challenging projects for few dozen millions... and nowadays we can't even build straight bit of motorway on flat ground without wasting at least 1 billion.
The twin cooling towers (Salt and Pepper) provided a memorable visual landmark for many drivers who passed them and would think "only so many minutes before journey's end." They stood disused for many years because the powers that be felt it was too dangerous to demolish them due to their proximity to the M1. Well, for all those who have felt bereft I have some good news (sort of.) There are plans to replace the cooling towers with an artwork. At the northern end of the viaduct and on the eastern side of the M1 in a field above the motorway at Kimberworth, Rotherham, a large 'Man of Steel' is going to be located. It will be made of stainless steel and will assume a pose similar to Rodin's 'The Thinker.' I have no idea when this edifice will materialise, it has been on the drawing board for years now and there has even been a small model of how it will look on display in the Meadowhall shopping centre. But knowing the pace at which anything gets off the ground in this country, we'll all be in flying cars before it appears - if it ever appears.
@@ptonpc It will probably be a hideous eyesore just like the ridiculous tribute to Charles Darwin our council spent a million on in Shrewsbury. That million was four times over the estimated price. Well done the fucking council, our bills go up but nothing useful gets done by the useless bastards.
I think that idea went out of the window a while ago but you can see the steel hearts in Meadowhall & Rotherham which were meant to raise money for the project.
The beautiful silver steel Bull that was on the left just before the viaduct is now at the Magna Science Centre in case anyone wondered, once over the viaduct on the hill above the Crane workshop in an Ancient British Hill Fort called Wincobank that was a bastion against the Romans for over 30 years.
My dad is a Rotherham lad and a civil engineer, he didnt work on that viaduct but did work on a section of the A1, he did witnessed a couple of cooling towers down falling down in a storm around York somewhere. He said it was a sight to behold.
There's a second level!!! 😮 I've schlepped up n down the M1 past Sheffield and never realised what an impressive structure that is. Very informative John, thanks 👍
If that is the road by the shopping centre I cannot believe it is a two tiered road. That actually amazed me. I've been up and over that road a few times but being a bloke I've never got off at the shops so never knew there was another road under it. Crazy.
I've driven over and underneath this structure many times and it is an impressive structure - thanks for the history lesson as well. And today the air is much cleaner around it so the corrosion risks are much less a problem. 😂
My memories of this bridge (which is only a little younger than me) are the seemingly permanent roadworks, which restricted it to two lanes through what I remember as most of the 90s and 00s at least, when I started using fairly regularly.
Have travelled on that stretch of motorway 1000's of times and never knew there was a road running underneath.Amazing what you learn on this channel. Cheers John.
I know it well, being from Chesterfield, formerly having family in Sheffield and going to Uni in Huddersfield (long long ago). I used to love driving past the cooling towers on my way home from Hudds as I knew I was nearly home. I went to witness the demolition of them in 2008 and the video may still be on my channel…
My home town! I miss Bill & Ben (the final 2 cooling towers) Swapped Sheffield for Newcastle about 4 years ago. Still lots of steel structures to keep me happy!
I have driven over that section of the M1 hundreds of times and never realised there was a carriage way underneath.......you learn something new every day lol😅
It's nearly forty years since I was stood where you're stood... and those well cool ing towers were there at the time I was stood there... When they went... yep ... well that's the finish of "Sheffield Steel" then....
Used to get driven across that lower lane on family shopping trips to Meadowhell all the time as a kid, always felt so modern and even futuristic at night being inside this big metal multi-tier motorway bridge up in the air with a roof above you and the lights of the city, road lights and shopping centre all below you contrasted against the rest of old backwater South Yorkshire.
Have travelled over that more times than I can count. My Dad used to deliver into Sheffield from Leeds when he worked for a carrier company called United Carriers. My first recollection of that area was in the late 60s. When approaching the area, you could smell the sulphur in the atmosphere. And as you passed over the viaduct and looked to the left, the Meadowhall steel works sprawled out where the current shopping centre is.
Of all the many many times I’ve driven on that section of the M1, I had no idea there was another 4 lanes of traffic underneath me. Every episode is a school day !! Cheers Jon 👍🏼
So this is what the Tinsley Viaduct looks like when it was built in 1968 and opened in the same year. With the M1 motorway at the top deck and the A631 in the middle deck. I must say that it’s quite an impressive structure that can handle so much traffic when the M1 motorway was built and extended to Leeds that you have mentioned in your other previous videos. Very interesting piece of British engineering history.
I miss those Tinsley towers so much. Knew quite a bit about its construction, but there's quite a lot here that I didn't expect to find out about, as always great video!
I worked on some of the repairs on the lower deck, circa '87-'88 over winter, the lower deck was shut off to traffic while we did some strengthening repairs to the metal work. The M1 was still open above while we worked below it. You'd be surprised just how much the bridge swayed!
as a former daily user of this viaduct (I live near junction 36, and worked at an engineering firm just off the southern end of the viaduct) I became very familiar with it if you're waiting at the lights to get from the viaduct onto southern roundabout, vibrations from the motorway overhead often cause vehicles to visibly bump up and down on the spot - very unnerving if you're not expecting it! also the road leading from the southern roundabout to the Sheffield ring road (Shepcote Lane, a.k.a. Schrödinger's A-Road) is very strangely signposted: from the roundabout it's marked A6102 (same as the ring road), from the ring road it's marked A631, both without brackets the section of M1 through Sheffield and beyond to the north was a last-minute addition, considered beneficial despite the larger amount of engineering work required - it was originally meant to terminate on A1(M) Doncaster bypass on what's now the southern end of M18, which is why M1 turns a sharp corner through the M18 junction while the south-facing sliproads are gently curved, and the junction is so close to junction 31 the Tinsley viaduct is the heaviest bit of engineering on it, but there are some pretty substantial hills on the Barnsley section, and there are entire motorways in this country that are shorter than the south-facing sliproads at junction 37
J37 North slip almost exactly the same, westbound m42 j5 at Solihull is tiny in comparison but no chance of getting the tonne as it's always smart motorway at 50mph a moving traffic park
@@jonathanpalmer155 it's a single section of road that apparently has two different numbers, depending on which sign you look at similarly, some parts of A633 between Barnsley and Rotherham are both primary and non-primary, depending on which sign you look at
I have driven over this so many times, and when its windy its fun on the top deck.. To be pedantic the bottom tier carries the A631 not the A361 It used to mean you where home when you saw the cooling towers, now its the site of Meadowhell that you see
@mozzaev to be equally pedantic they were cooling towers & not cooling tyres! 😂 I used to be able to see them from my old house in High Green. The tyres not so much!
I grew up in Wincobank, and you could see it being constructed from my window. The valley was full of steelworks back then with a cloud of smoke above it. We used to ride bicycles on the bottom deck in the early days.
My grandad told me about the problems of this bridge about 40 odd years ago when i was a young un, and every time i'm stuck at the lights under the lower deck on the Tinsley side i always have a glance up at the steel roof while hearing the loud clank of each vehicle as the trucks & cars pass overhead,,,,,,always a relief when the lights turn green at that side ,,,funny thing is i don't get that feeling so much on the other side but you can't hear the clank so much on that side.
I remember it well from working in the Tinsley area for 8 years in the 80's. I used to joke the bridge was built for free provided they were given the maintenance contract as it always seemed to be under repairs; I must have spent many hours in total gently bouncing up and down in a line of traffic on that lower deck. Thanks for the memories.
As someone who used to live near Irchester and Lives in Sheffield i loved this video. Good to know the train still exists and the travellers nearby didn't sell it for scrap 😂
I used to drive over that all the time in the 80s. I recently went back and wondered if I had imagined cooling towers. Now you have told me they were there and now demolished so thanks.
I love the Viaduct. I can see it from home, and occasionally hear the traffic. Just an extra fun fact, in the film 3 Lions, there's a shot where it zooms into the house where they were based. That's on the south side of of the viaduct.
The best argument I can make in favour of steel for a bridge like this is that if there was corrosion (which was bound to happen) you’d actually see it and could do something about it, whereas it could easily not be seen in reinforced concrete. The outro drive is a great view though. What a remarkably light looking structure
@@stanmarsh14 Same problem that doomed the Ponte Morandi bridge, which collapsed and killed 43 people. It was very likely steel cables corroding within the reinforced concrete (the stays and cables were, for whatever reason, fully encased in concrete). This corrosion was very difficult to detect.
I drove from Glasgow to Sheffield and then back to Ireland this summer. Drove over that viaduct several times on the M1. I had no idea there was another dual carriageway underneath!
Lived in Tinsley , worked at Arthur Lees , so walked to work . Friend worked for Cleveland Bridge in Darlington , he worked on the box sections for the decks , he bought his house with his overtime earnings .
I have known this structure since the mid 1970s. Mf the industry together with the cooling towers have disappeared but the viaduct still serve us well. My respect to the construction team as mentioned in the post below.
Very interesting thanks,.. at 4:44 I remember those extra struts being added but it still amazes me how it takes the weight with such slender supports 5:44
When I was working in steel research in Rotherham a mechanical engineering colleague told me tenders had been requested for a concrete structure, but one company offered the steel version; it was so much cheaper the choice was not in doubt. Good video!
And all of a sudden..."...or they were bribed" fantastic!.
Beat me to it 🤣🤣🤣
Was Marples involved?
The tale I was told is simply that the steel option was £100k or so cheaper than the concrete option. No bribery involved. The construction of the M18, on the other hand...
@@andrewsturrock3069 Mr Budge did that and other works around Doncaster
Mind you using steel, is a nice -mod- nod to local industry..
..
My grandad was a steel erector on the viaduct, I found out after he passed my wife’s great uncle Stan was also a steel erector on the viaduct, after meeting him for the first time I mentioned my grandad to him and it turned out they were in the same steel erecting gang for 30 years and were very good mates along with my great uncle Percy . Fortunately Percy was still alive and I was able to reintroduce them to each other. Both passed on now but that’s my connection to the Tinsley Viaduct.
They can be proud of this large erection they all put effort into creating and maintaining for so long.
😂😂😂😂😂@@ForburyLion
@@ForburyLion The funniest comments are always deep in the comments section.
Oh wow that pedestrian path looks incredibly inviting. Such a calming route with great views. And no way off.
Maybe a car could lose control and let you of the bridge
*truck goes over the top at 56mph, vibrating all the way down* yeh, very inviting bridge path
There’s always a quick way off a bridge…
That's probably what the dog being walked is thinking to.
No different from walking over the Humber Bridge tbh, which I’ve done several times
I've driven over that viaduct on the M1 countless times since the mid 80's and it's only today I found out it was tiered. Thank you for teaching me something I didn't know.
same! who knew....
@@tobymcnicol922 all us that have had it all our lives😂
Same here!
Yeah I always wonder just why I'm so high up on that bit, I don't dare look to the side - and now I know why, there's a whole bloody dual carriageway underneath!
Me too 😮
Fun/disconcerting fact - if you sit in stationary traffic on the lower deck, you can feel the structure bouncing/jiggling slightly.
the funnest facts are always slightly disconcerting
It makes sense, as metals really just act like stiff springs, and when the cross section of the metal is small, as it is in this case, it isnt as stiff, so you feel that springy effect. Whats surprising to me is that such a big structure is able to be supported by such small steel beams
Can confirm 😶🌫 Sheffield dwellar here
Yes, it's because part of it is actually sat on some springy rollers at one end. I believe it was constructed this way so that it could expand and contract with the seasons.
The same happens on the QEII bridge @ Dartford...
Nice to see you covering this structure in a highways inspector based in Sheffield and recently, with just my two brothers, carried out all the inspection works that have been taking place on and inside the confined spaces of the steel box sections throughout Tinsley Viaduct. As you mention it’s not in bad shape at all and inside the beams besides a few minor cracked welds is all well kept and repainted. 👍🏼
I’m guessing the minor cracking you found is fatigue cracking, you are arranging it to be drill stopped initially and then the welds removed with a cold cutting technique and re welded with a pwht.
In the ‘70s, I was involved with the “Merrison” Steel Box Beam stiffening project, spent months climbing inside these girders, seeing the welders installing additional webs to the originally designed stiffening webs. An amazing project.
Note the failed girders failed during construction because at the time the method of installing this “new” technology wasn’t understood properly, these new box beams (at the time) could not withstand the unique forces introduced by cantilevering the girders into position, which was an age-old method that was safe for earlier bridge girder designs.
And that is the key lots and lots of paint ... as long as that is kept up it will last forever
The tough part is getting in 2 these places to paint it ....
@@billturner6564 it won’t last forever if you just keep applying protective coatings. The viaduct needs to be checked for fatigue cracks.
@@adamlee3772 zzzz
4:31 The 'diagonal supports' shown here are of relatively minor importance. The diagonal struts that were added in the 70s were the big beasties you can see at 4:38 - they went all the way from the base of each pier, past the lower decks and were fixed at the upper decks. This significanly increased the longitudinal stability.
(source: I worked on this during the 2002/03 improvements you mentioned!)
It did seem suspicious to me, having those flimsy supports to prevent unexpected total failure. Now it makes sense!
If you drive on the lower deck during rush hour you get an odd sensation as you can feel the whole structure bouncing up and down as the motorway traffic flies along above you!
Yeah, squirms like buggery doesn’t it!
Thought that was just me and my fear of heights
Yeah its really odd, like being on the water.
I hated it for that very reason!!
Yeah it's really disconcerting how the lower deck sways around like it's actually a rope bridge. As a Sheffield resident I try to avoid using it. Had more repairs than triggers sweeping brush 😂 they day it fails and collapses i won't be on it!
I really miss those towers, it meant it was only 45mins till home.
Every time we drove past a friend of mine used to say they should put huge letters 'S' and 'P' on them.
How long is it now till you get home?
Not missed as much as the Avesta stainless steel bull!
How long is it now they've gone? 🤣😂🤣
@@Andy_T79 It's round the back of Magna if you're missing it!
Sheffield … that’s where the UK gets gritty … hell of a place and great people. Loved working in that area years ago.
Hell,is the correct term for a lot of it
Cheers pal, I'm a Sheffielder and have always said Sheffield holds the whole of the north on its back. Finest people you'll meet the real Sheffielders although it's a very diverse city now and full of students from all over the place. I'm 56.
That's Yorkshire for you. It's gone up and it's staying up! Still be there in another 50 years. Miss those cooling towers though, such a great landmark / direction point.
i remember being in awe at those cooling towers as a kid
Yeah Salt & Pepper were iconic
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Would love to see some info on how they went about the demolition - the proximity of the motorway must have made it very difficult.
@@huwlewis9059 if I recall correctly they had a massive exclusion zone ground them, closed the motorway and did it about 3 in the morning
Travelling along the M1 back in the 70's, you could smell Sheffield long before you reached it. True story.
Absolutely - and that smell persisted well into the 1990s......
Sheffield busses had a permanent odour that will never be replicated
And spot it from way off in the clouds (in the past) when the blast furnaces were opened.
Don't forget Coalite just South of J30
I lived in Sheffield in those days. Are you saying we stink?
Marvellous video Jon. The outro jazz rather good. I haven’t been bribed.
Gran Turismo 4 Soundtrack - GT Mode 2
Composed by Isamu Ohira
After a shit day in the office working on a public sector contract and a shit tonne of beer to forget it I really appreciate the brutal sarcasm in this video... Top work 😁
I’ll be driving over that on the M1 in my truck about 5 am tomorrow
Ooh, here in Sheffield. 😀 How the devil are you? Iconic bit of construction that, but the cooling towers are sadly missed.
I watched them come down. Still miss them when i drive over
The Old Ladies of Tinsley. Much missed.
There were many corporate sphincters twitching before and during the demolition, particularly when they didn't initially come fully down. Plans for the viaduct "becoming lost" were in place. It wouldn't have been pretty. At all.
I fondly knew the towers as "Salt & Pepper" & a land mark sadly gone & missed.
They were "nearly home" to so many people - on the train or the motorway, always a welcome sight.... ❤️
My great grandad was a Scotsman who was contracted to weld large sections of the original structure. On the weekend he used to go dancing in Sheffield, where he met my great Grandma. So you could say this piece of road has a special meaning to our family
Tricky for hitching but as stately as Spaghetti, and highest respect for a cracking video.
Drove over it hundreds of times & never thought about it … crackin story, so I hit the button specifically intended for showing my appreciation 👍
The upper deck in the 1980s and 1990s was 6 lanes of motorway with no hard shoulders, I used to drive along it in the left hand lane at 70mph flinching a bit at how close the fence to the edge was. Then a lane each way was turned into a hard shoulder and it stayed that way while the deck was widened to add an extra lane on each side. Finally it changed to 3 lanes with the new hard shoulders when it changed to a smart motorway a handful of years ago.
Sheffield! Sheffield! Loving the jazz too.
I spent weeks in the 80's testing the welds on the inside of the box sections we found that a the steel was a type that contained segregation and natural weaknesses that along with the weld design was considered a potential problem and months were taken to remove the welds [fillet] one at a time; and some of the steel sections and then replace with a new design of weld [penetrated]. these were examined using ultrasonic and surface testing. The plate work was then painted with anti corrosion paint which actually never dries.
I lived quite close to the Tinsley viaduct when I was studying in Sheffield and especially enjoyed this episode. The cooling towers were still there but much of the heavy industry in the Don Valley had closed. The buildings were still standing or were semi derelict. It was a few years before the Meadowhall retail park was built.
For me whole area had a strange feel to it, with the viaduct and the towers along the skyline but factories that would once have been busy with thousands of workers empty or part demolished. You could see how this in turn had impacted local businesses leaving empty shops and boarded up pubs.
So chill, great atmosphere here!
It is amazing how in 60s they were able to build challenging projects for few dozen millions... and nowadays we can't even build straight bit of motorway on flat ground without wasting at least 1 billion.
Brilliantly entertaining video, thanks for the time and effort you spent putting it together.
Thanks for another fabulous video.
Just what’s needed to cheer up my day.
It is an amazing structure.... earlier this year I drove on the lower level for the first and it made me say "wow" out loud!
The twin cooling towers (Salt and Pepper) provided a memorable visual landmark for many drivers who passed them and would think "only so many minutes before journey's end." They stood disused for many years because the powers that be felt it was too dangerous to demolish them due to their proximity to the M1. Well, for all those who have felt bereft I have some good news (sort of.) There are plans to replace the cooling towers with an artwork. At the northern end of the viaduct and on the eastern side of the M1 in a field above the motorway at Kimberworth, Rotherham, a large 'Man of Steel' is going to be located. It will be made of stainless steel and will assume a pose similar to Rodin's 'The Thinker.' I have no idea when this edifice will materialise, it has been on the drawing board for years now and there has even been a small model of how it will look on display in the Meadowhall shopping centre. But knowing the pace at which anything gets off the ground in this country, we'll all be in flying cars before it appears - if it ever appears.
It will be Chinese steel of course.
@@ptonpc It will probably be a hideous eyesore just like the ridiculous tribute to Charles Darwin our council spent a million on in Shrewsbury. That million was four times over the estimated price. Well done the fucking council, our bills go up but nothing useful gets done by the useless bastards.
@@ptonpc Steel from the local Outokumpu factory
I think that idea went out of the window a while ago but you can see the steel hearts in Meadowhall & Rotherham which were meant to raise money for the project.
The beautiful silver steel Bull that was on the left just before the viaduct is now at the Magna Science Centre in case anyone wondered, once over the viaduct on the hill above the Crane workshop in an Ancient British Hill Fort called Wincobank that was a bastion against the Romans for over 30 years.
My dad is a Rotherham lad and a civil engineer, he didnt work on that viaduct but did work on a section of the A1, he did witnessed a couple of cooling towers down falling down in a storm around York somewhere. He said it was a sight to behold.
A rare success story!
There's a hidden lane on that bridge too.... in-between the lanes underneath that is accessible to maintenance workers.
He does mention the "service" Lane in the video
There's a second level!!! 😮 I've schlepped up n down the M1 past Sheffield and never realised what an impressive structure that is. Very informative John, thanks 👍
If that is the road by the shopping centre I cannot believe it is a two tiered road. That actually amazed me. I've been up and over that road a few times but being a bloke I've never got off at the shops so never knew there was another road under it. Crazy.
Yep, Meadowhall is right next door
Not being from Sheffield and generally wanting to just get through Sheffield. I didn't know this was 2 tiered. How interesting, thanks!
I've driven over and underneath this structure many times and it is an impressive structure - thanks for the history lesson as well. And today the air is much cleaner around it so the corrosion risks are much less a problem. 😂
1:51 that image is amazing
My memories of this bridge (which is only a little younger than me) are the seemingly permanent roadworks, which restricted it to two lanes through what I remember as most of the 90s and 00s at least, when I started using fairly regularly.
They had a maintenance phase where repairs were made and a full recoat of weather-proofing. No easy or quick job when they have to test every rivet 😂
Been over this a few times and always enjoyed the views. This is the first time I'm learning there was a whole other deck underneath at the same time
Have travelled on that stretch of motorway 1000's of times and never knew there was a road running underneath.Amazing what you learn on this channel. Cheers John.
Must have driven over this at least 50 times, never knew it had a lower level. Thanks for interesting video.
Very interesting and slick presentation. Thanks a lot.
I know it well, being from Chesterfield, formerly having family in Sheffield and going to Uni in Huddersfield (long long ago). I used to love driving past the cooling towers on my way home from Hudds as I knew I was nearly home.
I went to witness the demolition of them in 2008 and the video may still be on my channel…
it is still on. i also remember watching look north the following day.
@@aidy6000 Thanks! I actually had to go and check myself and saw it was uploaded 16 years ago.
My hip went when I saw that...
I've been on this a few times, and it's always been a fun ride. Thanks for sharing some insight!
1:43 brilliantly put
Fab history lesson. These midweek videos are great as they are so varied in topic. Nice one Jon
This is the best video I've ever seen about _anything_
Been along that viaduct thousands of times , I had no idea there was another road underneath , now I do , you've changed my life forever lol.
My home town! I miss Bill & Ben (the final 2 cooling towers) Swapped Sheffield for Newcastle about 4 years ago. Still lots of steel structures to keep me happy!
I have driven over that section of the M1 hundreds of times and never realised there was a carriage way underneath.......you learn something new every day lol😅
It's nearly forty years since I was stood where you're stood... and those well cool ing towers were there at the time I was stood there...
When they went... yep ... well that's the finish of "Sheffield Steel" then....
Used to get driven across that lower lane on family shopping trips to Meadowhell all the time as a kid, always felt so modern and even futuristic at night being inside this big metal multi-tier motorway bridge up in the air with a roof above you and the lights of the city, road lights and shopping centre all below you contrasted against the rest of old backwater South Yorkshire.
Glad you mentioned Meadowhall . Involved with the carpark construction ---- in reinforced concrete 😂
Great video , been over that viaduct many times over the years but only realised it was 2 teir a few months ago
This is an amazing piece of road. Never knew what was beneath it but its smooth.
Congratulations on breaking the 150K barrier!
Have travelled over that more times than I can count. My Dad used to deliver into Sheffield from Leeds when he worked for a carrier company called United Carriers. My first recollection of that area was in the late 60s. When approaching the area, you could smell the sulphur in the atmosphere. And as you passed over the viaduct and looked to the left, the Meadowhall steel works sprawled out where the current shopping centre is.
They were Don Valley Works, BSC. Stretched all the way along up to Tinsley TMD and yard.
@@paulnolan1352 george turton & platts
@paulnolan1352 apologies bad memory.
Thank you for teaching me more history about my home town that I didn’t know. 😁
Thanks for that mate, much appreciated!
@@AutoShenanigans. No, thank YOU
Brilliantly executed by John once again 👍
Of all the many many times I’ve driven on that section of the M1, I had no idea there was another 4 lanes of traffic underneath me.
Every episode is a school day !!
Cheers Jon 👍🏼
So this is what the Tinsley Viaduct looks like when it was built in 1968 and opened in the same year. With the M1 motorway at the top deck and the A631 in the middle deck.
I must say that it’s quite an impressive structure that can handle so much traffic when the M1 motorway was built and extended to Leeds that you have mentioned in your other previous videos. Very interesting piece of British engineering history.
I miss those Tinsley towers so much. Knew quite a bit about its construction, but there's quite a lot here that I didn't expect to find out about, as always great video!
I worked on some of the repairs on the lower deck, circa '87-'88 over winter, the lower deck was shut off to traffic while we did some strengthening repairs to the metal work. The M1 was still open above while we worked below it. You'd be surprised just how much the bridge swayed!
as a former daily user of this viaduct (I live near junction 36, and worked at an engineering firm just off the southern end of the viaduct) I became very familiar with it
if you're waiting at the lights to get from the viaduct onto southern roundabout, vibrations from the motorway overhead often cause vehicles to visibly bump up and down on the spot - very unnerving if you're not expecting it!
also the road leading from the southern roundabout to the Sheffield ring road (Shepcote Lane, a.k.a. Schrödinger's A-Road) is very strangely signposted: from the roundabout it's marked A6102 (same as the ring road), from the ring road it's marked A631, both without brackets
the section of M1 through Sheffield and beyond to the north was a last-minute addition, considered beneficial despite the larger amount of engineering work required - it was originally meant to terminate on A1(M) Doncaster bypass on what's now the southern end of M18, which is why M1 turns a sharp corner through the M18 junction while the south-facing sliproads are gently curved, and the junction is so close to junction 31
the Tinsley viaduct is the heaviest bit of engineering on it, but there are some pretty substantial hills on the Barnsley section, and there are entire motorways in this country that are shorter than the south-facing sliproads at junction 37
The j37 south slip road is perhaps the longest in the country it's all downhill with a constant gradient nice for getting to the tonne on the m1
J37 North slip almost exactly the same, westbound m42 j5 at Solihull is tiny in comparison but no chance of getting the tonne as it's always smart motorway at 50mph a moving traffic park
As a fellow left-hander, but not a De dah, please explain, "Schrödinger's A-Road [I know about Schrödinger]?
@@jonathanpalmer155 it's a single section of road that apparently has two different numbers, depending on which sign you look at
similarly, some parts of A633 between Barnsley and Rotherham are both primary and non-primary, depending on which sign you look at
When you're queuing for the roundabouts on the lower deck you can feel it moving about.
I always loved driving on the lower deck - felt quiet and cocooned somehow!
Love the outro music too Jon.
You just made my son’s day. He loves Tinsley Viaduct, the power station, Meadowhall and the M1.
I have driven over this so many times, and when its windy its fun on the top deck.. To be pedantic the bottom tier carries the A631 not the A361
It used to mean you where home when you saw the cooling towers, now its the site of Meadowhell that you see
@mozzaev to be equally pedantic they were cooling towers & not cooling tyres! 😂
I used to be able to see them from my old house in High Green. The tyres not so much!
@@AndiusPandius I didnt even know I had typed tyres lol.all changed to the proper word... oh dear lol.
I grew up in Wincobank, and you could see it being constructed from my window. The valley was full of steelworks back then with a cloud of smoke above it. We used to ride bicycles on the bottom deck in the early days.
Just found your channel ,wow 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Steel construction? Absolutely. The Forth Bridge, opened in 1890, still going strong!
Steal construction, or just many layers of paint holding it up....!! 😅
My grandad told me about the problems of this bridge about 40 odd years ago when i was a young un, and every time i'm stuck at the lights under the lower deck on the Tinsley side i always have a glance up at the steel roof while hearing the loud clank of each vehicle as the trucks & cars pass overhead,,,,,,always a relief when the lights turn green at that side ,,,funny thing is i don't get that feeling so much on the other side but you can't hear the clank so much on that side.
Love this. I used to live in Sheffield and I know both layers well.
that's one of the best views from the Meadowhell centre. The road out of there 🤣
The best views of Meadowhell are in the rear view mirror 😂
Welcome back to Yorkshire Jon. Very much looking forward to seeing your Michelin Guide series routes up here too.
Had no idea that was going on underneath. Great vid.
I remember it well from working in the Tinsley area for 8 years in the 80's. I used to joke the bridge was built for free provided they were given the maintenance contract as it always seemed to be under repairs; I must have spent many hours in total gently bouncing up and down in a line of traffic on that lower deck. Thanks for the memories.
That were ace.
Fascinating, great research as usual
I like the Gran Tourismo 4 music at the end!
As someone who used to live near Irchester and Lives in Sheffield i loved this video. Good to know the train still exists and the travellers nearby didn't sell it for scrap 😂
I used to drive over that all the time in the 80s. I recently went back and wondered if I had imagined cooling towers.
Now you have told me they were there and now demolished so thanks.
I love the Viaduct. I can see it from home, and occasionally hear the traffic.
Just an extra fun fact, in the film 3 Lions, there's a shot where it zooms into the house where they were based. That's on the south side of of the viaduct.
For many years it was reduced to only two lanes either way. Nice to see the inside lanes opened again 😁
Sheffield ❤
The best argument I can make in favour of steel for a bridge like this is that if there was corrosion (which was bound to happen) you’d actually see it and could do something about it, whereas it could easily not be seen in reinforced concrete.
The outro drive is a great view though. What a remarkably light looking structure
Correct, and that's the problem they had at Dunkirk Flyover, next to the QMC in Nottingham, which carries the A52 towards Clifton / A453.
@@stanmarsh14 Same problem that doomed the Ponte Morandi bridge, which collapsed and killed 43 people. It was very likely steel cables corroding within the reinforced concrete (the stays and cables were, for whatever reason, fully encased in concrete). This corrosion was very difficult to detect.
Driven a truck on both levels, each way, many times. Always amazed me how well build it was. Thanks for crushing that hope 😂😂😂 Much love
You forgot to mention it bounces up and down , sitting in traffic you feel it moving .
Great video
I learn something new every week on this channel 👍
I drive over it all the time when I’m at work, thanks for sharing the history of this amazing piece of engineering
I drove from Glasgow to Sheffield and then back to Ireland this summer. Drove over that viaduct several times on the M1. I had no idea there was another dual carriageway underneath!
Lived in Tinsley , worked at Arthur Lees , so walked to work . Friend worked for Cleveland Bridge in Darlington , he worked on the box sections for the decks , he bought his house with his overtime earnings .
I have known this structure since the mid 1970s. Mf the industry together with the cooling towers have disappeared but the viaduct still serve us well. My respect to the construction team as mentioned in the post below.
Never driven over this viaduct but now I want to after watching this! Loved the closing music too .
And you called it the correct name this time (you called it the Tilsley Viaduct in Secrets of the Motorway M1) 😁👍brilliant video
Content like this will get you to 250K subs in no time, Jon.
Very interesting thanks,.. at 4:44 I remember those extra struts being added but it still amazes me how it takes the weight with such slender supports 5:44
When I was working in steel research in Rotherham a mechanical engineering colleague told me tenders had been requested for a concrete structure, but one company offered the steel version; it was so much cheaper the choice was not in doubt.
Good video!
And the bribe that much larger waa just icing on the cake! 🤣😂🤣
Great episode John!! It’s like the outro music …. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice
Best video yet!!