In April 1949, 29 members of the Institution of Highway Engineers met in the Civic Hall, Leeds. Amongst the very hot topics of the day were such things as minimising land take for new road construction, to safeguard essential food generating agricultural land, and also Lancashire’s (!!) newly published ‘road plan’ with its ambitious and visionary ideas about a network of motorway standard highways. It transpired that this plan led directly to the construction of the first motorway in the country, the M6 Preston Bypass.

Whether or not any Lancashire / Yorkshire rivalry influenced that meeting in Leeds Civic Hall, the members present decided to form a new branch to cover their area, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Northeast. This was thus the beginning for what was to become in due course, the ‘Yorkshire and Humberside’ branch of our Institution.

Things have moved on since then. Through it all, though, our branch has been at the centre of debates on the hot topics of the day both at a national and regional level. The early sixties must have included some entertaining consideration of Lancashire’s M6 problems which included serious frost heave and landslips on the 1:1 slopes to cuttings. At the start of the 21st century the branch is still at the cutting edge of our discipline. All Engineers are responding to the challenge of sustainability and global warming, and more recent events have included debates on carbon footprint and personal carbon trading, as well as a technical meeting on the viability of making Leeds into a ‘walkable city’. 

With a population of nearly five million, the Yorkshire and the Humber Region is an area of great geographical variety. The major cities of Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Hull contrast sharply with the picturesque villages of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and the Yorkshire Wolds. The jewel in the crown is York, to Yorkshire folk the second city of England, of which George VI famously said “The history of York is the history of England”.

The branch has witnessed some very significant changes over the years. Local Government continues to change and develop in response to national government agendas, two metropolitan county councils have been and gone, and the region’s traditional “heavy” industries of coal, steel and textiles have all but disappeared, to be at least partially replaced by high tech industries and an ongoing growth in tourism.

Highways and Transportation professionals have been able to bring about dramatic changes in the region contributing to the regeneration of communities, areas and industries, and have played a major role in modernising the Yorkshire and Humberside transport network. Key examples include:

• Development of Leeds/Bradford, Humberside, Sheffield City and Doncaster Robin Hood  airports, with Leeds Bradford being a part of the Trans-European Network.

• Expansions at the Humber ports with the Humber now being Britain’s busiest estuary.

• Line 2 of South Yorkshire Supertram

• Bus and rail interchanges at Sheffield and Meadowhall (including connections with the Supertram network)

• Electrification of the East Coats Main Line and the Leeds/Bradford to Ilkley/Skipton local rail routes

• Inter-modal freight railports at Doncaster and Wakefield

• Leeds integrated traffic control system, now extended to all major towns and cities in West Yorkshire.

• M62 – the highest motorway in Britain – incorporating Scammonden Dam, the first motorway construction to be used to impound a reservoir and Scammonden Viaduct

• Development of M1, M18, M62 and A1/ A1(M) as part of the Trans European road network

• Design and construction of the Humber Bridge – at the time of the construction the longest span suspension bridge in the world

• East Coast Main Line Diversion (to avoid Selby Coalfield) – the first trunk railway line in England for 80 years.

• M180 – Trent Bridge, the first major glued segmental bridge in Britain

• A1 – M1 link road, and improvement of the A1 to motorway standards using innovative PFI funding structures

  
  

Over recent years the annual programme of meetings has increasingly reflected the wide spectrum of professional expertise within the branch membership, which stands at around the 600 mark.

As one of the largest branch regions, we aim to host our evening meetings and breakfast briefings at the major centres across the region and in venues easily accessible by public transport.

The current programme of meetings is listed under http://www.iht.org/events/IHTevents.asp?branch=yorkshire-humberside

In addition to the meetings programme, we also host a number of social events, including:

• The annual Dinner Dance held each October in the grand surroundings of the Hotel Majestic, Harrogate;

• A summer social, such as a picnic and open air concert at a local stately home; and

• Various graduate and student events, including a football tournament and pub quiz.

Our branch works closely with the IHT national organisation and members of the branch sit on the IHT Council and Executive board as well as the Institution’s technical boards. The branch has provided two past - Presidents of IHT, Tony Longden and Tony Gaffney

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