Looking back at Glasgow's Kingston Bridge 54 years after it officially opened

Thousands of people travel over it every day and, on the odd occasion, there's a rammy taking place on the Kingston Bridge and on top of all of that, it's a key part of the city's transport hub.

Today (June 26) marks 54 years since the bridge was officially opened back in 1970 and it has carried commuters through the M8 into the city centre, getting them to work and back home in the decades that followed.

With 150,000 vehicles said to be travelling on it every day, the £11million bridge has been dubbed the 'busiest in Europe'.

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It has seen millions of Glaswegians and tourists utilise it to explore the beautiful depths of Glasgow and its beating heart in the city centre.

Everyone loves a good myth and, even better, Kingston Bridge has found itself at the centre of one.

It suggests that several gangsters who 'disappeared' in the city around the time the bridge was getting built in the late 1960s were murdered and their remains buried in the concrete support piers or the foundations of the bridge. Whether there's any truth to this myth will perhaps remain a mystery.

What we do know about the bridge is that it's seen some drama over the years. More recently, in April this year, shocking footage emerged of a brawl on the bridge between two women.

Traffic was brought to a halt on the busy M8 as the women rolled about on the ground, leaving other drivers stunned by what they saw.

During the nineties, there were serious fears the bridge could collapse. By the start of that decade, serious structural problems became apparent, with major concerns the two ends of the bridge could no longer hold the weight of the traffic.

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As such, an extensive renovation project began in October 1999, culminating in the bridge’s entry into the Guinness Book of Records - a total of 128 hydraulic jacks elevated the deck of the bridge while the plinths, which had by this time started to crumble, were replaced, earning the operation the the title of ‘biggest ever bridge lift’.

It is reported that in excess of £33million was spent on the renovation project, which continued until 2003.

Kingston Bridge is now a thriving transport hub for Scots, bringing people in and out of our wonderful city.

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