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Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 606571
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/606571
This elegant nine-span steel bridge, erected from 1975–78 on the M85 road, soars some 30m above the floor of the Tay Valley for more than half a mile with spans varying from 63–174 m. These are many times greater than the Tay Viaduct’s spans of 114 years earlier, such had been the development of bridge engineering over this period.
The bridge, which is evocative of engineering ability and skill, derives its strength from independent twin 4.3m wide steel box-girders from 2.7–7.5m deep. The girders were made at Darlington and Chepstow in lengths of from 10.5– 25 m, lifted into place and welded together. Each boxgirder carries a 7.3m two-lane carriageway. The slender reinforced concrete piers on which the girders rest are of 4:5 by 1:25m cross-section and most are founded on piles up to 40m long down to gravel or bed rock.
The bridge was designed by Freeman Fox and Partners (Resident Engineer H. Binnie) for the Scottish Development Department. The main contractor was Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co. Ltd and the civil engineering contractor, Miller Construction Northern Ltd. The cost was about £8 million excluding the multi-level northern approach and junction constructed by Shellabear Price (Scotland) Ltd for about £3 million.
R Paxton and J Shipway
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
