In November 1990 the Newport Bridge was sadly raised and lowered for the last time. It was built in 1933 by local company Dorman Long (who also constructed the Tyne Bridges). The bridge was officially opened in February 1934 by HRH the Duke of York accompanied by the Duchess of York – the late Queen Mother. It was the first vertical lift bridge in Britain and the largest and heaviest of its type in the world. It took only seven minutes to lift and lower the 2,700 ton span – it could be lifted 90 feet, giving a clearance of 120 feet at high water allowing river traffic access to Stockton. With the new barrage in position further up the river and the decline of use, a decision was made to seal the lifting span. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Firstly Bob Harbron’s comment is correct, WHY? I remenber the Newport bridge being built to connect the new road from Middlesborough to Stockton via Portrack roundabout and on via the new road to basically ICI Billingham, as a quick way to cycle to work on the new cycle path. Cars were minimal in those days. It was indeed a bridge to be proud of and involved loss of life in its building. I still get a thrill when we now rush past in the traffic on the second bypass and think how sad. If you are lucky you may get sight of the Transporter bridge in the backgound, I managed to take a photograph of them both with my wife driving the car.
Up to the early seventies, the building which housed Dorman Long’s research and testing facilities were on the southwest side of the bridge. It contained metallurgy labs, facilities for testing refractories, and on the top floor, the Physics Section. I guess the building originally belonged to the North East Railway as it was situated between two groups of tracks, and there has been a railway ‘halt’ at his point, (Newport East?) at one time. The people in the physics section were responsible for developing plastic coated steel, which in the seventies and eighties was the standard way of constructing the walls of industrial buildings and warehouses. Eventually a purpose built creep test lab was built on the south east side, which was used to test steels for use in power plant and steam turbines.
Is there any way you can get to the top of the Newport Bridge?
To Barry Smith – The Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne is exactly the same design as the famous Sidney Harbour Bridge only on one third of the scale. The Tyne Bridge was built first by Dorman Long possibly as practise for their hugely bigger contract in Sidney. Or maybe it was easier to scale up a successful design. Visiting Sidney last year there is no doubt that the Opera House and The Bridge are the features that make Sidney memorable.
Newport Bridge.1990 Planners and Developers are supposed to think years ahead, so just a thought, If this was so there would have been no need for the massive mile and a half Teesside-Fly-Over for the non-exsistent shipping, a normal bridge would have surficed.
Thanks to everyone who answered my question about Finkle Street. When Paul Dee mentioned the Newport Bridge I thought I”d search Picture Stockton to see if I could find any mention of it. These wonderful photos show the bridge being raised and lowered for the last time, must have been a sight worth seeing. I see from another comment that the same company who built the Newport Bridge built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Phew! No mean feat!
Dorman Long also constructed the Sydney Harbour Bridge