Post World War II development led to the redundancy of many ferry crossing. The Hexham bridge leads traffic from and to the North Coast and into Newcastle. The lift section is still operating. In recent years the bridge has been duplicated (visible behind the original in the photo).

The foreground is the site of the old Hehxam coal loading facility which serviced the closer collieries for many years.

More details can be found on the RTA web site