Transport Bridge and Motor Housing.

History
The bridge was designed by French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin. It was built in 1906 and opened by Godfrey Charles Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar on 12 September 1906.[1]

Reason for the Transporter design
The design was chosen because the river banks are very low at the desired crossing point (a few miles south of the city centre) where an ordinary bridge would need a very long approach ramp to attain sufficient height to allow ships to pass under, and a ferry could not be used during low tide at the site.[2]

The height of the towers is 242 feet (74 m) and the height of the horizontal beam above the road is 177 feet (54 m).[citation needed] The transporter platform or gondola travels the 645 feet (196.6 m) between the towers at ten feet (three metres) per second,[citation needed] powered from the engine room. This Transporter Bridge is the largest of the eight which remain worldwide,[citation needed] and the oldest of its type in Britain.[citation needed]

Note: It is considered the largest transporter bridge in limited terms only.[citation needed] When compared with Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge the Newport Transporter is: 16 feet (5 m) taller; but 200 feet (62 m) less in total deck span (discounting the anchor cables which, as with a ship, is technically part of the object but does not contribute to its overall length); and utilizes approx. 1400 tons of steel compared to 2600 tons for Middlesbrough's Transporter (this weight of steel takes no account of concrete foundations or concrete anchors).[citation needed]