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Portway, Bristol

A4 road (England)Roads in BristolUse British English from June 2017
The Portway geograph.org.uk 252873
The Portway geograph.org.uk 252873

The Portway is a major road in the City of Bristol. It is part of the A4 and connects Bristol City Centre to the Avonmouth Docks and the M5 motorway via the Avon Gorge. The road was constructed following World War I in order to provide improved access to the ports at Avonmouth Docks, which had replaced Bristol Harbour as the major local centre for commercial shipping. Upon opening on 2 July 1926, it was the single most expensive road project in Britain, costing £800,000 (now about £49 million). The construction posed a number of significant engineering challenges, including long and deep rock cuttings, a viaduct over the River Trym, and retaining walls against the gorge adjacent to the River Avon. Falling rocks have since been a problem along the Portway, particularly at the southern end close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, with concrete canopies constructed to prevent loose rock and assist with remedial work. The Portway remains an important route to and from Bristol, and is now used as part of the Portway Park and Ride scheme. In the 21st century, the road has been regularly shut to motor traffic for maintenance, providing sporting events such as the Bristol Half Marathon, or to allow locals to enjoy a traffic-free view of the Avon Gorge.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Portway, Bristol (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Portway, Bristol
Portway, Bristol Sneyd Park

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Wikipedia: Portway, BristolContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.47652 ° E -2.64882 °
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Address

Portway

Portway
BS9 1SU Bristol, Sneyd Park
England, United Kingdom
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The Portway geograph.org.uk 252873
The Portway geograph.org.uk 252873
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Nearby Places

Sneyd Park
Sneyd Park

Sneyd Park is a suburb of Bristol, England, lying on the western fringe of Clifton Down, adjacent to the Avon Gorge and the Sea Walls observation point. It was formally twinned with Barton Hill (an area of Bristol) in 1976 as the two areas have curiously similar demographics (cite Avon County Council planning report Jan 1974). The twinning involves an annual luncheon between local resident's at the Barton Hill Settlement. It is part of the Stoke Bishop district. Home to many millionaires, Sneyd Park was originally developed in Victorian times. Many Victorian and Edwardian villas line the edge of the Downs. More modern housing has since been built down over the slope, towards Sea Mills, Bristol. Much of this development was carried out by the Stride family builders whose practice was "to purchase an estate freehold and to erect thereon their own houses, with the knowledge that none will be able to come along and dump a lot of cheap houses down in the neighbourhood, thereby spoiling the amenities of the place and detracting from the value of the houses erected by the firm." The 'Stride brothers' specialised in constructing individual style homes with the emphasis on location, finish and design. Buildings were never duplicated and no two were built to the same design. They often have solid oak interior doors, oak-panelled hallways, the hallmark Stride letterboxes and impressive staircases. Brothers Jared and Jethro Stride founded the business in the 1920s, followed by Jared's sons Arthur and Frederick, and then their sons Leslie and Raymond. In 1864 Jared and Jethro's brother Lot was killed in an accident in a sawmill in Cardiff when his hair was caught in the revolving saw. The incident made the newspapers around the world. Prior to developing Sneyd Park Edwin Stride and his sons Jared and Jethro had set up the Crown Brick Works in Shirehampton to supply bricks for the docks then under construction. Clifton Down, in the vicinity of Sea Walls, was the location of the flight, on 12 November 1910, of the first aircraft built by the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane Company. Many thousands of Bristol's citizens flocked to see two well-known French pilots, Maurice Tétard and Henri Jullerot, give a public demonstration of the new Bristol Boxkite. Blériot's famous flight across the English Channel had occurred only the year before.