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Friday 26 June 2009

Back to the future for Yarmouth's third crossing?

HOW should people in Great Yarmouth cross the River Yare? We seem to keep changing our minds. Back in April I was talking to regulars at Ye Olde Ferry Boat about the ferry (seen here in the 1950s, pic: Jack Harrison) which used to run between Gorleston and South Denes Road. It came to an end in 1997 because the local council said it could not justify an annual subsidy of - if memory serves - £30,000 a year. Now that same council is preparing to spend either £80 million on a bridge or £180 million on a tunnel, just upriver from where the ferry used to ply its trade. So here's a radical idea to save a few quid. Ditch the bridge, ditch the tunnel and subsidise a modern ferry. Allow bikes on board, cut down on traffic, encourage people to walk, talk about carbon footprints ....all that sort of stuff. And be true to Yarmouth's history in the process.
* Read the full story and see a video demo of the proposed "third crossing" here.

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