#traffic infrastructure

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January 21st 1890 saw test trains first cross the newly-built Forth Bridge.

Dates differ a wee bit.

That first train was a journey that launched tens of thousands of others.

To test the stability of the bridge beyond all doubt, it was decided to take a double train each made of 50 loaded coal wagons onto the rails. The total weight was some 1,800 tonnes - more than double what the bridge would be expected to take.

The test was organised and witnessed by Sir John Fowler and Mr Baker, the bridge engineers, with the wagons loaded onto the bridge at the north end. None of the engineers were allowed on the bridge at the time with observations of the impact of the weight taken at various points.

“The bridge exhibited exceptional stiffness in all directions,” a report in the Greenock Telegraph noted.

A few days later, on January 24th, the first passenger train crossed the Forth Bridge

A small group of VIPs boarded a train at Waverley Station to journey to the Forth Bridge. The elite guest list included the Chairman of the Forth Bridge Railway Company, Chairman of the Great Northern Company; the Marquis of Tweeddale as the Chairman of the Great British Railway Company; Sir John Fowler and Mr Baker, engineers; the main steel contractor, Mr Arrol; and other invited guests.

As the train approached the southern cantilever on the Forth Bridge, the driver halted the train and the Marchioness of Tweeddale took over the management of the engine by controlling the steam regulator. The train then travelled northwards at an average of 12 miles per hour, at different speeds, to test for possible vibration through the steel structure.

Lady Tweeddale was congratulated on her excellent driving. The engine among the pics is said to be the first used .

A little known fact about The Forth Bridge is that according to the Queensferry Observer, Wednesday 12 June 1889, there was a cèilidh dance was held on the bridge during its construction, perhaps to keep the workers’ moral high. Not one, not two, but a grand total of three pipers were in attendance – guaranteed to bring a real party atmosphere!

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Edinburgh's incredible electric blanket that kept the Mound ice-free in winter.

My friend. Alistair posted a pic of this last September on his group Eternal Edinburgh, of a curious crowd watching the tar being laid over the "Electric Blanket"

Back in the 1950s, with one of the coldest winters on record on its way, Edinburgh hatched a plan to keep one of its busiest city centre roads free of ice by installing a pioneering 'electric blanket' under the road.

Being north-facing and with a steep gradient, the Mound was an accident black spot in the winter and regarded as the perfect place to trial a sub-surface electric heating installation.

In 1956, buses had taken over from trams as the main form of public transportation in the capital, and there were concerns that the double-deckers would struggle to negotiate streets such as the Mound in heavy snow. The recent removal of tramlines at the Mound made the installation of the electric blanket even easier, as the whole roadway had to be dug up.

Costing a little over £4,000 (£72,000 in today's money) to deliver, Edinburgh's electric blanket was the first of its kind in Britain, with workers laying some 70 miles of insulated cable was laid an inch and a half beneath the asphalt of the Mound.

Workmen laid the first sections in late September 1959, with the work all but complete by the end of the year - and it was just as well, too, because winter was coming and it was set to be one of the coldest on record.

But, as the Liverpool Echo reported in its weather round-up, Edinburgh's new electric blanket had done its job and kept the ice at bay while other routes were impassable.

"Edinburgh's first big snowfall of the winter brought chaos to city traffic," reported the Echo. "Local train services were dislocated as a result of blocked points and the derailment of a shunting engine.

"But the 'electric blanket' at the Mound - the street with its own heating system - was unaffected. The electric heating system - first of its kind in Britain - melted the snow on the roadway as it fell."

The success of the Mound's electric blanket prompted other cities around the UK to install similar technology under roadways in the years that followed.

The heating system, while remains embedded beneath the roadway of the Mound, is no longer in operation, with Edinburgh resorting to the old method of scattering grit and salt during icy weather.

*Update, I just spoke to a friend who worked on a roadworks team that dug up the cables around 1972/3.

[scotianostra]

The first traffic lights in Scotland. was introduced on Monday 19th March 1928.

The the first set of permanently installed traffic signals in Scotland commenced operation in Edinburgh, at the York Place - Broughton Street junction, the junction there is still one of the busiest in town.

We weren’t that far behind the first English lights, which went up in Leeds, W Yorks on 16th March 1928. Please note there were a few instances of temporary lights, but theses were the first permanent ones.

[scotianostra]

On July 2nd 1971 The Erskine bridge was officially opened.

Construction on the project began in April 1967 at a cost of £10.5m, which is the equivalent of almost £150m today.

The bridge was designed by Freeman Fox & Partners for the Erskine Bridge Joint Committee. Dr Oleg Kerensky was the partner in charge and the chief design engineer was Dr William Brown under the supervision of Sir Gilbert Roberts. The piers and foundations were designed by W. A. Fairhurst & Partners. The consultant architect was R. E. Slater.

The central span is 305m (1000ft) flanked by anchor spans of 110m each. The total length including approach spans is 1322m. The aerofoil box-girder deck is supported by fourteen diamond-plan, single-shaft concrete piers at a maximum height of 45m above the river. Two central pylons extend 38m above the level of the deck. A 6x4 cluster of galvanized steel cables passes over the saddle of each pylon in a centralised, single plane.

The dual carriageway has cycle lanes and footpaths with metal safety barriers, renewed in 2012. The underside of the deck carries four water mains pipes and two gas pipes. In 2017 the cables were painted and aluminium lighting columns were installed.

The Bridge was a state-of-the-art infrastructure landmark in Scotland for its time and remains one of the country's most architecturally and technically distinguished bridges of the post-war period and beyond its date of construction. It is the first example of a large-scale cable-stayed bridge in Scotland and is recognised for its structural simplicity, economy of materials and slender appearance.

It was designed and built during a period of substantial development in civil engineering and road infrastructure. It illustrates the aspirations for economic and social progress in Scottish society and is directly associated with the period of ambitious transformation of Scotland's modern infrastructure during the 1960s.

The Erskine Bridge is one of only three road bridges in Scotland with a main span exceeding 300 metres. Its minimalistic single-cable design remains exceptionally rare for large-scale road bridges. On completion, the Erskine Bridge is understood to have had the longest span of this type in the world. The appearance of many bridges on this scale have been altered by later alteration and engineering works. The largely unchanged appearance of the Erskine Bridge contributes to its special interest.

[scotianostra]

On 8th April 1999 the Berneray Causeway was officially opened, the stretch of road - which is just 1km long - transformed life in this area of the Outer Hebrides.

It was a drizzly and damp day as around 400 locals gathered for the historic occasion with the royal helicopter of Prince Charles, delayed by the conditions. But spirits were high as this new era of island life dawned.The causeway cost £6.6m to built and replaced the ferry which connected the two islands for generations. The new route eased up the journey for locals, allowing an smoother flow of goods and services and making it easier to get to work and school.

The April ceremony followed a celebration in December which marked the last ferry crossing.

Then Berneray’s youngest resident, Shaun Turner, aged one, and its oldest, John Macaskill, aged 89, bparded the boat to make the final trip over the Otternish, The first walk across had been in early August 1998 when the final rocks were tipped into the gap on the Ardmaree, Berneray.

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On August 8th 1984 the Kylesku Bridge officially opened to traffic.

The Kyslesku Bridge in Sutherland on the north-west of Scotland carries the non-trunk A894 across Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin between Unapool and Kylestrome.

The bridge was designed for what was then Highland Regional Council by Ove Arup and Partners. It was, in part, financed by the European Community, and built by Morrison Construction Ltd. The cost was £4 million, rather more than the budgeted £2¾ million, in part due to difficult weather conditions during construction.

The structure replaced a succession of ferries which had crossed between Kyslesk and Kylestrome since the early 19th century. When this ferry was not running, the only alternative was a 100 mile (160 km) detour around the NW Highlands.

Over the years, various ferries came and went, and small car-carrying ferries first appeared between the wars. The Kylesku Ferry was unusual in being free for much of its life. The Maid of Kylesku, a two car ferry, was built for the Kylesku crossing in the early 1950s, where it was operated until replaced by the Queen of Kylesku in 1967.

Check out the video below for a clip of the Queen of Kylesku, and can you imagine bairns being allowed to help like that nowadays!

The Bridge is one of those seminal points of the NC500 and lovers of road trips will appreciate the impressive way of affording us such magnificent views and access. There is a large car park on the North side where you can stop and take in the views.

Pics are of the bridge, of course and two of the ferries that used to sail betwen the points.

[scotianostra]

On June 26th 1970 The Kingston Bridge, carrying the M8 motorway over the River Clyde in Glasgow opened.

It might not have the global fame of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the impressive backdrop of Sydney’s Harbour Bridge or the history of London’s Tower Bridgee, but Glasgow’s bustling Kingston Bridge, which celebrates its 54th birthday today, is every bit as iconic It was officially opened on June 26th, 1970, by the Queen Mother.

The 52,000-ton structure took three years to build and cost about £11million – the equivalent of more than £180million today. When construction began in May 1967, it was the most expensive road project yet undertaken in Glasgow.

The bridge opening marked a massive reduction of traffic travelling through Glasgow, city centre numbers dropped by a massive 75%!

The Kingston Bridge is 270m long, over 40m wide and crosses the River Clyde at a maximum height of almost 20m.

Today, the bridge carries over 150,000 vehicles a day and is one of the busiest road bridges in Europe. Currently there are moves to have the bridge listed as a structure of historic and architectural interest.

Watch a short clip of the opening at the link below.....

See Glasgow's Kingston Bridge open 55 years ago

[scotianostra]

On October 16th 1995 the Bridge to the Isle of Skye opened.

Prior to the opening of the bridge the main route to Skye was by the ferry between the 2 villages Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyleakin. The ferry service was operated by Caledonian MacBrayne the short route of about 500m took 5min, at peak times there was often queues to use the ferry.

The bridge construction started in 1992 built by the Scottish company Miller, but designed by a German engineering company DYWIDAG Systems International in collaboration with civil engineering firm Arup.

The main bridge is a concrete arch, supported by two piers. This connect Skye to the small island called Eilean Bàn, the rest of the bridge is level across to the mainland. The total distance across is 1.5 miles. The main arch is about 35m high with around 30m clearance for boats on high tide.

Eilean Bàn (White Island) is the small island upon which the main arch of the bridge rests.

The island has a 21m high lighthouse just below the bridge arch. The lighthouse keepers (before automation in the 1960s) stayed in the cottages on the Island. These cottages where then purchased by Gavin Maxwell who is best remembered for is work with otters. Maxwell did many interesting things including writing wildlife books, his most famous is called "The Ring of Bright Water”.

These days the island is a wildlife reserve being managed by the Bright Water Trust. One of the cottages is now the Maxwell museum. This is a reconstruction of Maxwell’s 40ft living room, containing original artefacts, recreated by Virginia Mckenna of the Born Free foundation.

Most people wanted the bridge, but the way in which it was funded was conversional. Rather than the UK government paying for it, the government allowed it to be privately funded. Then granted a licence for the private company to charge tolls. It was said to be the most expensive road bridge in Europe.

This clearly upset many people. Locals on Skye setup a campaign group called SKAT (Skye and Kyle Against Tolls). After years of campaigning, legal challenges and then the setup of the new Scottish parliament in 1999 the leading political parties made it a priority to have the tolls abolished.

On the 21st of December 2004 the bridge was purchased by the Scottish Government and made free to cross.