This suspension bridge has the north tower sited on the high water line and the south tower founded in shallow water 500 metres from the shore. On the north bank at Hessle the side span is 280 metres long with the anchorage on higher ground just north of the Hull - Doncaster railway line. The southern side span, 300 metres west of Barton Haven, is 530 metres long with the anchorage about 30 metres inshore.

On the north bank, a hard well-jointed bed of chalk comes near to the surface and is covered by a tough layer of glacially deposited chalky boulder clay. The anchorage and tower has taken advantage of the chalk for good foundations and also the boulder clay has been used to the best advantage as the basis for the approach road embankment and the toll plaza area.

The areas on the south side where both the tower and anchorage are situated, soft alluvium is underlain by beds of boulder clay, sand and gravel. At 30 metres depth, below these beds there is a deep bed of stiff, heavily fissured kimmeridge clay on which the tower and anchorage have been founded.


The anchorages are massive concrete structures each having two chambers in which the main cables splay out into separate strands. At the splay position, the cables are supported by steel saddles mounted on top of reinforced concrete pillars. The ends of the main cable strands are attached to steel cross-head slabs at the face of anchor blocks by strand shoes and anchor bolts. The crosshead slabs are pre-stressed against the face of the anchor block by high tensile bars anchored at the rear. The anchorages also support the ends of the side spans. Hessle Anchorage is situated on the line of the bridge about 280 metres north of the high water mark. It is 65.5 metres long x 39 metres wide and founded in the hard chalk at a depth of 21 metres below ground level. Barton Anchorage is sited 30 metres behind the river flood Bund above ground, it is similar to Hessle anchorage but the foundation is cellular,72 metres long by about 40 metres wide filled with sand and water and constructed within a framework of diaphragm walls which reach 35 metres below ground level into Kimmeridge clay. This anchorage has been designed to give an approximately uniform bearing pressure under all conditions of cable pull. Certain parts above ground level - the mass concrete infill, the architectura ribs on the anchorage and the deck slab - were not therefore cast until cable spinning was complete. Subsequently the mass concrete infill was added while the box sections for the deck were being erected.


The piers are reinforced concrete structures which support the towers. Hessle Pier is situated on the high water mark. It is a reinforced concrete structure 44 metres wide x 16 metres long x 11.5 metres high and founded in hard chalk at a depth of about 8 metres below the ground level. Barton Pier is located in the river about 500 metres from the south bank. It comprises a reinforced concrete structure 16 metres thick supported on twin hollow circular cassions each about 24 metres in diameter sunk by underwater excavation and founded in Kimmeridge Clay about 36 metres below river bed level. Although heavily ballasted during construction, the caissons have been left empty in the final condition.