Menai Suspension Bridge: a history of maintenance and repair

Abstract

Menai Suspension Bridge was completed and opened in January 1826, a triumph for Thomas Telford and the longest span in the world. Despite the success of the bridge Telford was not entirely happy and was concerned by perceived problems. During construction the bridge suffered damage in strong winds and in February 1826 six hangers broke. Breakage of six hangers was repeated again in 1836 and in 1839 the deck was virtually wrecked in a hurricane. Provis was engaged to consider the matter and designed a new, articulated and heavier deck for the bridge, the construction of which was supervised by Maude. The replacement timber deck survived until 1893 when Baker designed a new steel deck. In 1908, Rivers commenced repairs and modifications to the bridge, but these were not entirely satisfactory. Tudsbery and Gibbs were engaged to examine the bridge in 1922, and it was recognised that the carriageway and weight restrictions severely limited use of the bridge. In 1938, Dorman Long began the difficult task of reconstructing the bridge to carry the full spectrum of modern road traffic. This paper recalls the first 112 years of the history of the bridge up until the time of the reconstruction.

Disaster and success: design lessons from history

“…His careful testing of the chains before use and his design of systems for replacing links, should they become damaged, indicate the attention he paid to the design details. Nevertheless, when constructed the bridge exhibited dynamic behaviour that had not been predicted and initially suffered significant damage in high winds because of its flexible deck (Day, 2012). However, these difficulties were ultimately remedied.…”

Editorial

“…The influence of one discussion on another are not clarified through references. Now, however, their publication online allows content to be tracked, enabling it to be drawn out and used, as demonstrated in the paper by William Day published in this journal (Day, 2012), following his work with Hyder on the repainting of the bridge in 2005. In the paper he cites three publications by Provis, including the 1842 discussion.…”