Bridges presentation
Each of the two main spans of the bridge consists of two 680ft (207m) cantilevers with a 350ft
(107m) suspended span for a total length of 1,710ft (521m). John Fowler and Benjamin Baker
designed the Forth Bridge (1890) to resist wind loads 5.5 times those that toppled the Tay Bridge
(Figure 20).
The Forth Bridge's record was broken in 1917 when the Québec Bridge was finally completed,
spanning the St Lawrence River near Québec (Canada) with an 1800ft (549m) cantilever span. Its
predecessor failed in 1907 while under construction, killing 82 workmen and ending the career of
one of America's most prominent engineers. Theodore Cooper had taken the commission reluctantly
with a fee insufficient to hire assistants, to allow for written specifications, or to provide for on-site
inspections. The design was not recalculated when Cooper, intent on exceeding the span of the
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