In 1899 the Widnes & Runcorn Bridge Company was established under the chairmanship of Sir John Brunner to investigate the options. Their decision was to build a transporter bridge. This would be cheaper than an orthodox type of bridge and the passage of the transporter car could be timed to allow the passage of the ships. The first transporter bridge in the world had been opened in 1893 in Bilbao, Spain. This had been followed in 1898 by transporter bridges in Rouen (France) and Bizerta (now Tunisia). Parliamentary approval had already been obtained for a transporter bridge over the River Usk at Newport, Monmouthshire. This was then followed by the construction of a transporter bridge in Middlesbrough over the River Tees in 1911.