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Forth Road Bridge: buffing of joints
Hill, Robin A., 1964, Photograph
Forth Road Bridge: buffing of joints
Forth Road Bridge: buffing of joints
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Item no
28451
Title
Forth Road Bridge: buffing of joints
Description
The picture shows the buffing of joints on southbound carriageway before surfacing.
Artist / maker
Hill, Robin A.
Date
1964
Size
16.8 x 21.5 cm
Type
Photograph
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
In September 1958 construction began on the Forth Road Bridge. It took 6 years to complete the structure which includes 39,000 tonnes of steel and 115,000 cubic metres of concrete. The total cost was £19.5 million. The huge cables which support the bridge are made up of 11,618 individual wires spun together tightly to create a cable strong enough to hold the deck of the bridge in place. The bridge is 2,517 metres long, and at the time of its completion, was the longest suspension bridge outside of the US and the fourth longest in the world. Its iconic towers extend 150m above water level and can be seen for miles around.
In its first year the bridge carried 2.5 million vehicles. The number of people using the bridge has grown year on year far beyond the projections of the 1950s. Due to this increase in traffic and the consequences of this for the structural integrity of the bridge it was decided that a second road crossing, The Queensferry Crossing, would be built. The Queensferry Crossing opened on 30 August 2017 and accommodates trade and private traffic while the existing bridge is still used as a public transport link.
You can find out more about the history of crossing the Firth of Forth from
The Forth Road Bridges
website.
Exhibitions with this item
Forth Road Bridge and Queensferry Crossing
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The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries