Scammonden Bridge

Scammonden Bridge, also known as Rainbow Bridge or, locally, Brown Cow Bridge, spans the Deanhead cutting carrying the B6114 Elland to Buckstones road over the M62 motorway in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The bridge and Scammonden Reservoir to the west are named after Scammonden, the village that was flooded to accommodate the reservoir whose dam carries the motorway. On opening, the bridge was the longest single-span non-suspension bridge in the world and it is the longest concrete arch bridge in the UK.HistoryThe bridge was built for the West Riding County Council to the designs of the county surveyor, Colonel S. Maynard Lovell. In March 1962 a model of the 37mi section of the M62 was displayed in Wakefield, the administrative centre of the West Riding County Council. The route of the motorway, from the A572 to the A640 at Huddersfield, was announced by Tom Fraser on 29 October 1964.DesignThe bridge was planned as a flat arch bridge, but aerodynamic considerations led to an open spandrel design. The main span supports eight spandrel columns and there are four other columns over the motorway cutting. The spandrel columns are 18in thick.