Latitude: 56.0017 / 56°0'6"N
Longitude: -3.404 / 3°24'14"W
OS Eastings: 312535
OS Northings: 679638
OS Grid: NT125796
Mapcode National: GBR 20.TWRV
Mapcode Global: WH6S9.PD7W
Plus Code: 9C8R2H2W+M9
Entry Name: Forth Road Bridge
Listing Name: Forth Road Bridge with Approach Ramps and Piers
Listing Date: 21 March 2001
Category: A
Source: Historic Scotland
Source ID: 395117
Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB47778
Building Class: Cultural
ID on this website: 200395117
Location: Edinburgh
County: Edinburgh
Town: Edinburgh
Electoral Ward: Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay
Consulting Engineers, Mott, Hay and Anderson in association with Freeman Fox & Partners; commissioned 1947; constructed 1958-64. Suspension road bridge over Forth Estuary. Twin suspension towers; main span 1006m with equal side spans of 408m (total 1822m); approach viaducts at either end supported on paired piers (10 pairs to S, 6 pairs to N), each joined at head by round arch; main deck and suspension towers of steel; approach viaducts steel box girder with concrete deck and concrete piers; suspension towers comprise twin legs (each 150m tall) connected by lattice bracing supporting cable saddles. Main cables anchored in rock below approach viaducts in concrete anchor chambers with Corennie granite transferred aggregate facing. Vertical suspender cables support main deck of bridge. Deck, containing two carriageways and flanking pedestrian cycle/pathways cantilevered out on either side (E and W); suspended deck supported by steel stiffening lattice truss. Granite transferred aggregate facing to bases of approach piers.
A landmark building in post-war Scotland, particularly given its location next to the famous rail bridge of 1882-90 (and as a continuation of the tradition of innovative Scottish engineering feats exemplified by the latter). In international terms it was the first spun-cable suspension bridge to challenge American designs of the period. It has an elegance deriving from the lightweight appearance of its slender construction components (American Designs of around this date eg Mackinac Bridge of 1957 and Verrazano Narrows Bridge of 1963 were far more solid and heavier in appearance). When it was completed in 1964 it was the longest suspension bridge outside the USA and the fourth longest in the world (it has a total span of 2828m). The engineers Freeman, Fox and Partners were also responsible for 3 comparable large scale suspension bridges in the UK: the Severn Bridge (1961-66), the Erskine Bridge (1967-71) and the Humber Bridge (completed 1981). Of these the Humber Bridge has the longest main span: 1410 metres, making it the longest in the world when it was built. The Forth Road Bridge and the Severn Bridge have main spans of 1006 and 988 metres respectively. The Forth Road Bridge however stands out as the earliest of all of them. Although the project was commissioned (and the Forth Road Bridge Joint Board set up) in 1947, Treasury Authority was not given until 1958 and it was in that year that construction began. The contractors were the ACD Bridge Company, a consortium comprising 3 separate firms which was set up specially to undertake construction of the Forth Road Bridge. The firms were: Sir William Arrol and Company Ltd, The Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company and Dorman Long Ltd. Situated just to the S of the S approach is the administration building, by Giles Gilbert Scott, Son and Partners.
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