Publication Account

Date 2013

Event ID 967237

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/967237

Completed in 1966 by W A Fairhurst, the bridge is built of twin steel hybrid box-girders with high tensile steel to the lower part of the box girder.

These were fabricated by Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Co, with Sir William Arrol, and stand on elegant twin chamfered piers. A version

of one on the Fife roundabout (south end of bridge) shows their taper from top to bottom.

There are 38 simply-supported spans of 25m at the ends, widening to 55m at the middle, giving the optical illusion of equal spans as far as midpoint,

and four continuous spans over navigation channels (protection added to those piers in 2012). Two viewing platforms, cantilevered over the roadways, and the toll booths, have been removed, and the approaches within Dundee are being altered to eliminate the roundabouts and overhead walkways that were a feature of that area. The bridge carries around nine million vehicles per year.

M Watson, 2013