I fucking love bridges. Especially the Severn Suspension Bridge as it was a world first.
It introduced an Aerodynamic Box Girder Deck and Inclined Hangers.
This happened quite by accident as it was originally going to be based on the Forth Road Bridge design.
A wind tunnel model was destroyed accidentally so William Brown created an Aerodynamic Box Girder model and tested it at the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington.
Bridges directly related to the Severn Crossing are:
Bosphorus Bridge
Humber Bridge
And the longest suspension bridge in the world has an Aerodynamic Box Girder Deck although it is of a split design- also a William Brown innovation…
Yeah, they need a lot of work it seems. I walked the Thames Path from Tilehurst to Pangbourne quite a bit last winter. As you approach Pangbourne the toll bridge between there and Whitchurch can be a really beautiful sight as the morning sun catches it
(not my pic - credit to Geoff Jones at All Trails)
You might think it’s Victorian, or perhaps Edwardian. In fact it was completely rebuilt by Atkins in 2013-4, albeit preserving the look of the 1902 rebuild and using some bits of that bridge. There had also been a rebuild in 1852-3 of the original 1792 bridge.
I spent 3 solid days exploring as much of it as I could get access to - helped in no small measure by it being 20mins walk from Sam’s apartment at the time…
- helped in no small measure by it being 20mins walk from Sam’s apartment at the time…
