Pont y Ddraig, Rhyl
This bridge was opened in October 2013 to provide a traffic-free route between the counties of Denbighshire and Conwy. Previously cyclists and pedestrians had to use the nearby Foryd Bridge. The bridge’s name, chosen through a schools competition, means “the dragon’s bridge”.
The official opening was carried out by Welsh cyclist Mark Colbourne MBE, who won a gold medal and two silver medals at the London 2012 Paralymic Games.
The bridge carries National Cycle Network Route 5 across the Foryd Harbour, at the mouth of the river Clwyd. The central sections of the deck, both sides of the tower, are designed to be raised whenever yachts need to pass. The mechanism is controlled from the harbour office nearby. At night the bridge is illuminated with lights which change colour.
The bridge deck is 32 metres long and made of polymers reinforced with glass fibre. The bridge cost £4.3m to construct, funded by Denbighshire Council, a Big Lottery Fund grant to Sustrans, the Welsh Government (including the European Regional Development Fund) and the tourism fund set up by RWE npower to complement its Gwynt y Môr offshore windfarm development.
The shoreline on the Rhyl side of the bridge was home to a shipyard in Victorian times. It was established by Robert Jones when he moved his shipbuilding business from Rhuddlan. At least 33 sailing ships were built there, including barques, schooners and fully rigged ships. He died in 1871 and was buried in Morley Road cemetery, now a park.