Gateshead Millennium Bridge:
* Featured on a first class stamp in 2000
* 36,000 people lined the banks of the River Tyne to watch
the bridge tilt for the first time on 28 June 2001
* Contains enough steel to make 64 double decker buses
or 16 Chieftain tanks
* Cost £22m to build
* Each opening and closing takes four and a half minutes
* Cleans up its own litter – anything dropped
on the deck automatically rolls into special traps at each end
of the bridge each time it opens
* Can withstand a collision from a 4,000 tonne ship travelling
at 4 knots
* Has concrete foundations stretching to 30 metres, anchoring
it to the river bed
* Is powered by eight electric motors – enough power to run
more than eight Ford Focus cars
* Sits on 19,000 tonnes of concrete
* Stretches 126 metres across the River Tyne
* Was lowered into place by Europe's largest floating
crane – Asian Hercules II
* The very top of the arch stands 50 metres above
the River Tyne when in its normal state
* Weighs more than 800 tonnes
* Is adjacent to an area called Baltic Square:
an open-air performance space which has been host
to a number of high profile events such as the first ever
Top Of The Pops outdoor event in July 2004,
Orange Evolution music festival 2005.
* Has been used in numerous television, film and media
projects such as 55 Degrees North (BBC), the national
football film GOAL! (GOAL Productions) and on the front
cover of Bentley magazine
* The Gateshead Millennium Bridge will appear on a new
pound coin from the Royal Mint in 2007, representing England
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