Plain concrete was used on the Carrington Viaduct (1903) and the first British reinforced concrete rail bridge, which had a 28 ft (8.5 m) span, was built in Dundee in 1903. Reinforced concrete was still being used in the 1950s for larger bridges, especially arches, notably Lune Bridge carrying the M6, but by the end of the 1960s, prestressed concrete had largely superseded reinforced concrete with box girders being the dominant structural form.The earliest known example of a mass concrete bridge in the UK, using lime concrete, was on the District Line, near Cromwell Road, West London, designed by Thomas Marr Johnson for Sir John Fowler and built c.1865. On the same day, a scale model of a girder for the world’s first 3D printed car bridge was tested. integral bridges. This partnership was responsible for Nunn's Bridge, Fishtoft near Boston (1948), the first in-situ prestressed concrete road bridge. 3D printing […]The 8-metre (26-feet) long bicycle bridge was placed yesterday in Gemert, in the province of Noord-Brabant, by construction company BAM Infra.
This inspired any number of developments and construction techniques, mainly involving precast segmental construction (Hammersmith Flyover, 1961); resin joints (Rawcliffe, Yorkshire 1968); match casting (Byker, Newcastle 1979); incrementally launched bridges, the first example in UK being the Shepherds House Rail Bridge near Reading in 1977; cable-stayed, typified by Lyne Bridge in Surrey, one of the first examples in the world.It was in the 18th Century that bridge design began to develop into a science, led by an engineering school founded in Paris.
On August 13, 1873, Joseph Monier filed an addendum to his 1867 patent entitled "Application to the construction of bridges and walkways of all sizes". The bridge was constructed as a single arch 64 feet (20 m) wide with a 20-foot (6.1 m) span. Eindhoven University of Technology has a massive 3D printer capable of printing immense objects – and it’s currently creating the world’s first 3D-printed reinforced concrete bridge. By the 1930's there was a significant increase in the use of reinforced concrete.Just when the masonry arch bridge was reaching its peak around the beginning of the 20th Century, reinforced concrete arrived on the scene. It is estimated that at least 75% of the Highways Agency concrete bridge stock has been built since 1960.Other systems followed including Monier (Copnor footbridge, 1902); Kahn (Lucker, Northumberland, 1906); Considere (Great Eastern Railway, Tottenham, 1908) and Coignet (Metropolitan Railway, Kings Cross).
Plain concrete was used on the Carrington Viaduct (1903) and the first British reinforced concrete rail bridge, which had a 28 ft (8.5 m) span, was built in Dundee in 1903. The world's first reinforced concrete bridge. Other early examples were the Adam Viaduct near Wigan (1943) and the Rhinefield Bridge in Hampshire. Since then, it has become the major construction material for bridges as it has for most structural and civil engineering applications, with its intrinsic versatility, design flexibility and, above all, natural durability.Although several British engineers had been using concrete early in the 19th Century, its use in British bridges did not develop until the latter half of the 20th Century. Related: World’s first 3D-printed pedestrian bridge pops up in Madrid . Soon afterwards, attention switched to England where the invention of the steam locomotive called for stronger bridges.