A bridge too far

I have never built a bridge, but I have now seen one being built and nearing completion (Radio 4, 9 a.m., xx August). I have crossed several, photographed a few, and once on a road in Spain came to a bridge that had washed completely away, so that round a corner we came to a sudden stop, or would have plunged into the river below.

Rivers are terrible barriers both for peacetime trade and for movements of armies, which is why bridges are vital in both peace and war. Securing bridges was a vital task for engineers after the D-day landings in the second world war. And later, when the allied armies were advancing across Europe, they built 2000 temporary Bailey bridges to get across the rivers.

I enjoyed wobbling on my own version of the Millennium Bridge, and watching the engineers install dampers, but my favourite is the Menai Bridge, built by Thomas Telford across the straits from Wales to Anglesey and finished in 1826. The navy insisted that they must be able to sail through; so there must be no barrier below 100 feet above the sea. So Telford’s men built a 150-foot tower on each side, fastened a chain on top of one, and floated the rest of the chain across on a raft. Then 150 men heaving on capstans hauled the other end of the chain to the top of the other tower. When it was safely anchored, three men walked across the nine-inch-wide chain from one tower to the other.

I’m glad to say there were no such daredevil antics in the construction of the Usk bridge, but I still found it a fascinating process.

Page last updated: Monday, 14 January 2013 15:37

Radio Times articles, from 2003-2005

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A Bridge Too Far