Bridges presentation
the more effective in contrast with the colossal masonry suspension towers. The United Kingdom's
first large-scale suspension bridge was the Menai Bridge on the London to Holyhead road over the
straits of the same name in North Wales (Figure 16). Travellers would board a ship at Holyhead for
the final leg of the trip to Ireland. It was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, with
an unprecedented span of 580ft (177m) using wrought-iron eyebars, each bar being carefully tested
before being pinned together and lifted into place. The roadway was only 24ft (7m) wide and,
without stiffening trusses, soon proved highly unstable in the wind. The Menai bridge was twice
rebuilt before the entire suspension system was replicated in steel in 1940 and the arched openings
in the towers were widened. The oldest suspension bridge extant today is the Union Bridge over the
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