CELEBRATING BRIDGES

CELEBRATING BRIDGES

6 July saw an international celebration following the conclusion of three years of restoration work on the Union Chain Bridge linking England and Scotland across the river Tweed and the unveiling of an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). There is also an important Welsh connection as all the ironwork was made in Wales, at the Pontypridd chainworks of Brown Lenox. Now 203 years old the extensive restoration work saw some of the ironwork replaced in a complex project costing £10.5m. The bridge is now the oldest vehicle-carrying suspension bridge and with a 449ft (137m) span and was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened in 1820. It was designed by Captain Samuel Brown who introduced iron chain cables into the Royal Navy.

The structure is Grade I listed in England and a Grade A listed structure in Scotland and was singled out for honour by the ASCE, supported by the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), along with many members of the local community from both sides of the Tweed. In terms of this accolade, it now joins the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Amongst the supporters were the Friends of the Union Chain Bridge who had campaigned for many years to support the preservation of the Union Chain Bridge and to conserve, protect and enhance its immediate environment for public benefit. See https://www.unionbridgefriends.com/ and http://union chainbridge.org/

Closer to home the website; Crossing the Severn Estuary severnbridges.org/ has been taken forward by the South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational Trust (SWIEET 2007) to continue the work by the Severn Bridges Trust (SBT). SBT trustees are all Chartered Civil Engineers who have enjoyed an involvement in the design, construction and maintenance of one or both of the Severn bridges. The Trust have sought to provide a permanent record of the many professions and disciplines involved in the First Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing [now called ‘The Prince
of Wales Bridge’] together with approaches, the Severn Tunnel and former ferry crossings of the Estuary.


In 2016, the year marking the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Severn Bridge and the 20th Anniversary of the completion of the Second Severn Crossing, the website was launched to provide a permanent public display expanded with engineering detail for those who are interested and to provide information on the background to both bridges as well as information on earlier crossings of the Estuary. It celebrates the broad spectrum of engineering disciplines and other professions involved, and the environmental and construction achievements of these two crossings. The website has been added to since then but is now complete.

Like the story of the Union Chain Bridge Crossing the Severn Estuary presents an inspirational example of the work of engineers and what they can achieve and contribute to society.

Stephen K. Jones