toll road

[fishing81]

we will be coming south on the A1 and intend to call in to Lincoln driving on the A57 and notice there is a toll sign at Dunham is it still there or am I using an old map.I wonder how many toll roads we have in the country

[ChuckFickens]

that's the Dunham bridge that has the toll, so it's not a toll road as such.

[jno]

just the occasional bridge/tunnel and one private motorway, I think

[gordyagusta]

not from the area myself, but was in Newark and surrounding areas, but while i was out and about i came across a Toll bridge on the A57, it crosses the River Trent. Not a large bridge by any means and I think i paid something like 30p to cross it...

[fishing81]

thanks ChuckFickens will make sure we have some change with us

[ChuckFickens]

It is 30p for a car....

http://dunhambridge.co.uk/dbc_tolls.htm

[fishing81]

30p gordyagusta will have to look for another route !! ha ha thanks for that

[jno]

30p, that'd buy you three drops of petrol

[fishing81]

now thinking about it there was one at Ashridge near Tring I wonder if that is still there and that was a road toll

[dzug2]

wiki suggests that it is there but that the toll is not often collected

It is/was a private road through a park

but the article is 6 years old

[fishing81]

yes you are right dzug2 it does go through the park and there use to be someone in a sentry box collecting the fee but I woudn't have thought it would be worth there while nowadays

[buildersmate]

Wikipedia reckons the answer to the toll bridges question is 17 in England and 4 in Wales. The list is here:
http://en.wikipedia.o..._toll_bridges#England
Most of these will be recognisable as modern structures erected to the last 50 years - the Severn Bridge and the Humber Bridge perhaps being well-known examples.
It's the ancient ones, of which Dunham appears to be one, that are far more interesting. I don't know Dunham but I do know about Whitchurch and Swinford bridges over the Thames in Oxfordshire and Batheaston bridge over the Avon to the west of Bath. Certainly Whitchurch and Batheaston bridges are major money-spinners for the owners and the tolls are scrupulously collected.
Whitchurch bridge is about to undergo a major refurb soon and the local councils on both sides of the river are making major contingency plans for the traffic chaos expected to be created.

[bednobs]

9is whitchurch still 20p?

[buildersmate]

Nope, it's 40p. Has been since 2009 since the last time the owners applied for (and got) statutory permission to increase it. Can't be too many businesses that can get away with upping the cost of their service by 100% and getting away with it. However they argued that the structure needed major work soon - which appears to be true.

[bednobs]

40p! shocking :0)
still, i suppose it's cheaper than going round

[buildersmate]

Indeed. It's a long way via Goring - as you seem to know.

[bednobs]

i used to work as a community worker in the pangbourne area - when the bridge was closed it was a very long way round, that's for sure