A63 Castle Street - Murdoch’s Connection and Roger Millward Way

This is the first phase of the A63 Castle Street scheme. A pedestrian footbridge crossing the A63 to improve safety.

Start date Autumn 2018

End date February 2021

Cost £22.3 million – Murdoch's Connection, £6 million – Roger Millward Way

Moving the A63 Princes Quay bridge into place

Latest updates

01 March 2021

New bridge is unveiled

After more than 200,000 working hours Murdoch’s Connection is now open to the public, marking the end of the £22m project.

It immortalises the Hull’s first female GP, Dr Mary Murdoch. The name was picked by students from Newland School for Girls in an essay competition to decide which of the area’s many icons should be honoured.

The bridge links the city centre to the marina, waterfront and fruit market. It crosses the dual carriageway of the A63, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to safely cross the road, and will also ease congestion on the A63.

Take a look at where it all started:

The bridge is a sight to behold. From its lowest point it stands at 47 metres tall – two metres higher than Hull Minster. It’s 60 metres long and weighs in at 150 tonnes.

The journey started in autumn 2018 when the site was cleared in preparation for the start of piling, which means the installation of large posts to support the foundations of the ‘super structure’. By spring 2019 the piles had been installed by drilling them into the water in the marina and in the ground in the surrounding area.

Each of the 13 piles which were put into the water at the marina could support a Boeing 747 jet and, if you were to lay out the concrete piles they would span the length of six football pitches.

In November 2019 the task of moving the bridge into place was completed, after all foundations in the marina had been installed. We then started work on the concrete jetty and the ramps completing the structure in position by spring 2020.

Excitement grew in April when it was announced the bridge would honour Dr Murdoch, and in September the local school pupil who nominated her came up with the name Murdoch’s Connection.

Now the public’s patience has been rewarded and they can start using the bridge, on which 1,700m cubic metres of concrete was used in the construction, equating to two thirds of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Murdoch’s Connection was part funded with a £4m contribution from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership’s local growth fund programme, secured through its growth deals with Government and part of the Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse.

Take a look at our opening brochure.

This is the second scheme we’ve completed in this area. Here is a look back at the work we’ve completed on Roger Millward Way roundabout.
14 September 2020

The name of our new bridge is announced

After months of anticipation, the name of Hull’s new bridge can now be revealed.

‘Murdoch’s Connection’ immortalises the city’s first female GP, Dr Mary Murdoch. The name was chosen by school students in an essays competition to determine which of the area’s iconic figures should be honoured.

Pupils from the Newland School for Girls and Archbishop Sentamu Academy submitted 100 essays to a judging panel which chose Dr Murdoch after whittling it down to a shortlist of five people. The question was then opened up to the public, attracting 55,000 votes.

Dr Murdoch, who passed away in 1916 at the age of 51, was House Surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Park Street. She was the most popular choice from a star-studded shortlist which also included ‘headscarf revolutionary’ Lillian Bilocca, philanthropist William Wilberforce, Julia Lee, the first woman to officiate men’s rugby league games in the UK, and heroic World War Two veteran Thomas Ransom.

Read the winning entry here.
01 August 2020

Work to complete bridge under way

Since the bridge installation we have been focusing on the remaining work we need to do to complete the bridge. This has included constructing the concrete form work for the steel ramps to sit on where we used 90 tonnes of concrete to create the deck, the construction of the precast marina deck, and the formation of two new walls on the north and south of the A63.

View the timelapse video of the bridge being installed.

We’ve also lifted the north and south steel sections of the ramps into place and had around 500 tonnes of granite arrive on site.

This scheme will create the new realignment of the A63 when the A63 Castle Street project starts.

Alongside this, we’ve made improvements at Roger Millward Way (formerly known as Garrison Road). The existing junction has been improved with a ‘hamburger’ design, which provides a new road running through the middle of the roundabout creating the burger shape. This will ease congestion and improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

You can view a timelapse video of the works at Roger Millward Way.

These two large projects were co-ordinated and carried out together to cause the least disruption to the public.

We’re now focusing on the remaining work we need to do to complete the bridge which will involve completing the marina platform and landscaping.

We also need to install some new drainage that will connect into the main sewer under the A63 carriageway to ensure that any rainwater is carried away, preventing flooding and keeping the public realm areas safe. This will take place over the weekend 8pm on Friday 21 August until 6am on Monday 24 August when the eastbound carriageway will be fully closed.

Clearly signed diversions will be in place and an alternative route for pedestrians will be created through the work.

The bridge, which is covered by a curving steel canopy, will also have sheltered viewing balconies at each end which will give people a space to enjoy the views of the city and waterfront. There will also be new landscaped public areas at both the Princes Quay and marina sides.
30 April 2020

Competition - winning essay announced

The people have decided that Hull’s new bridge is going to be named after the city’s first female GP after an astonishing 55,000 votes were cast.

As we face our biggest public health crisis in decades, it is perhaps poignant that the winning nominee is trailblazer Dr Mary Murdoch, who was the house surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Park Street and founder of the Hull Women’s Suffrage Society.

Students from Newland School for Girls and Archbishop Sentamu Academy submitted essays answering the question: ‘The naming of the bridge – who inspires me and why?’

Read the winning essay about Dr Mary Murdoch

From around 100 essays the judging panel shortlisted: World War Two veteran Thomas Ransom, Dr Mary Murdoch who was Hull’s first female GP, headscarf revolutionary Lillian Bilocca, philanthropist and abolitionist William Wilberforce and Julia Lee, the first woman to officiate men’s rugby league games in the United Kingdom. Have a look at the shortlisted essays.

The public were then asked to cast their vote online and at Hull Minster on who they thought should inspire the name of the new bridge which is going to significantly improve connectivity in the centre of Hull.

We’ll now work with the students who nominated Dr Murdoch so we can establish the final name of the bridge based on this winning entry, and this will be announced when it is opened in the summer.

The bridge, which has received a funding contribution of £4 million by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, is the first phase of the A63 Castle Street improvements scheme and will create better pedestrian links in Hull city centre.

The new bridge is 60m long and weighs 150 tonnes. It has been in position across the A63, since November 2019, after it was wheeled into place 15 hours ahead of schedule.

Alongside this, we’ve made improvements at Roger Millward Way (formerly known as Garrison Road). The existing junction has been improved with a ‘hamburger’ design, which provides a new road running through the middle of the roundabout creating the burger shape. This will ease congestion and improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Now the bridge is installed we’re focusing on the remaining of the work we need to do to complete the bridge which will involve installing the ramps and steps, and completing the marina platform and landscaping.

In the next few months the north and south steel sections of the ramp will be lifted into place overnight, 90 tonnes of concrete will be poured on the deck. Around 500 tonnes of granite will be delivered to site and installed over the coming months and landscaping work will begin.

The bridge, which is covered by a curving steel canopy, will also have sheltered viewing balconies at each end which will give people a space to enjoy the views of the city and waterfront. There will also be new landscaped public areas at both the Princes Quay and marina sides.

See more updates

Project information

The bridge crosses the A63 and will improve crossing facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and disabled users. It’ll also be a landmark and enhance the public urban environment.

The bridge is an important part of the A63 Castle Street improvement scheme which will allow pedestrians and cyclists to move freely across the A63.

It’ll help support the local economy by better linking the city centre to the waterfront, be a landmark piece of infrastructure and architecture for the city and act as a safe pedestrian and cyclists route across the A63.