| pre2000BC |
Arch construction
techniques used in Mesopotamia, Egypt and elsewhere, but not in
bridge-building.
Primitive suspension bridge techniques probably
known and used in China, India and elsewhere.
Probable earliest use of floating pontoon and
cantilever bridges in China. |
| 15thC
BC |
Corbelled arches
used in Mycenean "beehive" tombs. |
| 7thC
BC |
Corbelled stone
aqueduct, at Jerwan, Mesopotamia. |
| 7-6thC
BC |
Bridge built
across the Euphrates at Babylon. |
| 6thC BC |
Floating pontoon
bridges built across the Danube and Bosphorus by Mandrocles of
Samos. |
| 480
BC |
Xerxes builds a
pontoon bridge of over 600 ships across the Hellespont. |
| 3rdC
BC |
Earliest records
of Chinese bamboo and iron chain suspension bridges. |
| 2ndC
BC |
Romans build
masonry bridges over foundations secured in cofferdams. |
| c62
BC |
Ponte Quattro Capi
(Pons Fabricus) built in Rome. |
| c55
BC |
Julius Caesar
erects timber trestle bridge across the Rhine. |
| 1stC BC |
Vitruvius writes
De architectura. |
| c14 AD |
Construction of
Pont du Gard, France, and Pons Augustus, Rimini. |
| c100 AD |
Trajan builds
aqueduct at Segovia, and bridges at Alcántara, Spain and across the
Danube. |
| c134
AD |
Pons Aelius
or Ponte Sant'Angelo built in Rome. |
| 605 AD |
Segmental-arched
An Ji Bridge built in China. |
| 10th-12thC AD |
Heyday of
Romanesque architecture, based on the semi-circular
arch. |
| mid12thC AD |
Gothic style,
based on the pointed arch, begins to replace Romanesque. |
| 1188 |
20/21-arch Pont
d'Avignon. |
| 1210 |
Old London Bridge:
19 pointed arches. |
| early 13th
C |
Villard de
Honnecourt designs timber truss bridge. |
| 1218 |
Chain-suspended
Twärenbrücke, Switzerland. |
| 1345 |
Segmental-arch
Ponte Vecchio begun in Florence. |
| 1357 |
Charles Bridge
begun across Danube in Prague. |
| 1371 |
The longest
masonry arch span of the Middle Ages,72m (237ft), built at Trezzo by the Duke
of Milan. |
| 1507 |
Pont Notre-Dame,
first stone bridge in Paris. |
| 1511 |
Birth of
Bartolommeo Ammanati. |
| c1512 |
Birth of Antonio
da Ponte. |
| 1518 |
Birth of Andrea
Palladio. |
| 1567 |
Ponte Santa
Trinita, Florence, built by Ammanati. |
| 1570 |
Palladio's Four
Books ofArchitecture illustrates types of timber truss
bridges. |
| 1591 |
Rialto Bridge,
Venice, built by da Ponte. |
| 1595-1617 |
Verantius' bridge
designs in Machinae Novae. |
| c1600-40 |
Allahverdi Khan
and Khaju Bridges built in Isfahan. |
| 1708 |
Birth of
Jean-Rodolphe Perronet. |
| 1750 |
Westminster
Bridge: London's first crossing sinc! Old London Bridge. |
| 1755-60 |
Timber arch
bridges spanning over 61 m (200ft) b at Schaffhausen, Reichenau and Wettingen
by the Grubenmann brothers. |
| 1757 |
Birth of Thomas
Telford. |
| 1761 |
Birth of John
Rennie. |
| 1772 |
Perronet builds
the Pont de Neuilly across the Seine. |
| 1776 |
World's longest
suspended span of 200m (660ft), bamboo, built in Szechuan province,
China. |
| 1779 |
Ironbridge at
Coalbrookdale: the first cast-iron arch. |
| 1791 |
Perronet builds
Pont de la Concorde in Paris. |
| 1796 |
Iron arch Wear
Bridge, Sunderland, Buildwas Bridge, and iron-trough Longdon-on-Tern
Aqueduct. |
| 1800 |
First rigid
suspension bridge built in USA by Judge James Finley. |
| 1803 |
Birth of Robert
Stephenson. |
| 1805 |
Pontcysyllte
Aqueduct built by Telford.
Timothy Palmer erects timber truss, covered
"Permanent Bridge" over Schuylkill River,
Pennsylvania. |
| 1806 |
Birth of John
Roebling and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. |
| 1808 |
Finley patents
suspension system. |
| 1810 |
Birth of Charles
Ellet, designer of Wheeling Bridge Ohio. |
| 1811 |
Lewis Wernwag's
timber arch/truss "Colossus" Bridge built over the
Schuylkill. |
| 1815 |
Iron arch
Craigellachie and Bonar Bridges built by Telford in Scotland. First use of
Burr-type truss in USA. |
| 1817 |
First Waterloo
Bridge, in masonry, built by Rennie. |
| 1819 |
First Southwark
Bridge, in cast iron, built by Rennie. |
| 1820 |
Capt. Samuel Brown
builds 137m (449ft) span suspension bridge across the Tweed.
Patent of Town timber lattice truss system in
USA.
Birth of James Eads, designer of Mississippi
Bridge. |
| 1822-40 |
Several hundred
wrought-iron wire suspension bridges built in Europe by the Seguins, Dufour,
and others. |
| 1824-31 |
Old London Bridge
demolished and New London Bridge built, in masonry, to Rennie's
design. |
| 1826 |
Telford builds the
iron-chain Menai Straits suspension bridge, and Conway
Bridge. |
| 1830 |
Patent of Long
timber truss system in USA. |
| 1831 |
Vicat first proposes aerial. spinning of wire
cables. |
| 1832 |
Birth of Gustave
Eiffel. |
| 1834 |
"Grand Pont
Suspendu", the then world's longest suspension bridge built by Chaley at
Fribourg in Switzerland. |
| 1840 |
Patent of Howe
cast-iron/timber truss system, USA. |
| 1843 |
Birth of Fran4ois
Hennebique, pioneer of reinforced concrete. |
| 1849 |
High Level
Bridge, Newcastle, designed by Stephenson. Ellet's record-breaking
Wheeling suspension bridge over the Ohio - the first
"thousand-footer". |
| 1850 |
Robert Stephenson
builds tubular-iron Conway and Britannia Bridges. Collapse of
Bass-Chaine suspension bridge in France. |
| 1855 |
John Roebling's
double-deck road/rail suspension bridge at
Niagara. |
| 1859 |
Opening of tubular
suspension Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, built by
Brunel. |
| 1866 |
Roebling builds
world-record suspension span, 322m (1,057ft), over the Ohio at
Cincinnati. |
| 1867 |
Joseph Monier
patents "reinforced concrete". |
| 1872 |
Birth of Robert
Maillart, Swiss master of reinforced- concrete bridge
design. |
| 1874 |
James Eads builds
his triple-arch bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis: the first
great steel bridge. |
| 1876 |
USA's worst bridge
disaster: collapse of Ashtabula Bridge, Ohio, on 29
December. |
| 1879 |
Destruction of
first Tay Bridge (opened 1977). Birth of Freyssinet, French pioneer of
concrete prestressing, and Ammann, US/Swiss designer of steel, and
principally suspension, bridges. |
| 1883 |
Construction
of the record-breaking (486m/1,595ft) suspension Brooklyn Bridge by the
Roeblings. |
| 1884 |
Gustave Eiffel
completes the Garabit Viaduct. |
| 1886 |
Birth of Steinman,
US bridge designer. |
| 1889 |
Completion in
steel of Forth Rail Bridge, the world's two longest spans (cantilever)
each 521m (1,710ft). |
| 1894 |
Tower Bridge,
London. |
| 1907 |
Collapse of
unfinished Quebec bridge. Birth of Fritz Leonhardt, German bridge
designer. |
| 1916 |
Hell Gate Bridge
completed in New York -the first thousand-foot steel
arch. |
| 1917 |
Final completion
of Quebec bridge - current world's longest cantilever
span. |
| 1929 |
mbassador
suspension bridge, Detroit, becomes longest span of any type at 564m
(1,850ft). |
| 1930 |
Maillart
builds Salginatobel Bridge, Switzerland. Freyssinet completes Plougastel
Bridge, Brittany. |
| 1931 |
The George
Washington Bridge and Bayonne Bridge. |
| 1932 |
Sydney Harbour
Bridge. |
| 1937 |
Golden Gate
Bridge. |
| 1940 |
Tacoma Narrows
suspension bridge collapses. |
| 1950 |
Freyssinet
completes revolutionary prestressed- concrete bridges over the River
Marne, France. |
| 1951 |
Birth of Santiago
Calatrava, Spanish architect and engineer. |
| 1952-58 |
First modern
cable-stayed bridges in Germany and Sweden. |
| 1956 |
Construction of
"world's longest bridge" (actually comprising hundreds of
smaller spans) across Lake Pontchartrain,
Louisiana. |
| 1957 |
Then overall
world's longest suspension bridge at Mackinac
Straits. |
| 1962 |
Lake Maracaibo
Bridge, Venezuela: multiple cable- stayed and viaduct
structure. |
| 1964 |
New record
suspension span, at Verrazano Narrows. Europe's first long-span
suspension bridge, Firth of Forth, Scotland. Gladesville Bridge,
Sydney: first thousand-foot concrete bridge. |
| 1966 |
Tagus Bridge,
Portugal: mainland Europe's first long-span suspension bridge.
Severn Bridge: first use of aerodynamic deck. |
| 1970 |
Steel box-girder
bridges collapse at Milford Haven, Wales, and Melbourne,
Australia. |
| 1978 |
New River Gorge
Bridge, West Virginia: current world's longest steel
arch. |
| 1980 |
Ganter Bridge,
Switzerland. Longest concrete arch: Krk Island to
Croatia. |
| 1981 |
Then world's
longest suspension span: Humber Bridge, England. |
| 1985 |
T.Y. Lin proposes
Inter-Continental Peace Bridge between Alaska and USSR across Bering
Straits. |
| 1987 |
"Image
of the Bridge of the Future" competitions. |
| 1988 |
First
Honshu-Shikoku bridge complex, Japan. |
| 1990 |
Feasibility
study: Spain-Morocco crossing. |
| 1991 |
Then world's
longest cable-stayed span: Skarnsundet Bridge,
Norway. |
| 1992 |
Calatrava's
Puente del Alamillo built at Expo '92. First all-fibre composite bridge
erected in Scotland. |
| 1993 |
602m
(1,975ft) cable-stayed bridge at Shanghai. |
| 1994 |
Pont de
Normandie: longest cable-stayed bridge. |
| 1997 |
1,137m
(4,519ft) double-deck Tsing Ma suspension bridge, Hong Kong,
opened. |
| 1998 |
Second
Honshu-Shikoku link completed with Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, world's longest
span and longest overall suspension bridge; Great Belt complex,
Denmark, completed with East Bridge, world's second-longest suspension
bridge. |
| 1999 |
Third
Honshu-Shikoku link to be completed: includes Tatara Bridge, world's
longest cable-stayed span. |
| 2000 |
l6km (10
mile) 0resund link between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmo, Sweden,
completed; 1688m (5538ft) span Izmit Bay Bridge, Turkey, under
construction. |
| 2000> |
Strait of
Messina Bridge, Italy; Femer Belt link (Denmark Germany); Pearl River
Bridge (Hong Kong/China); Malacca Strait Bridge
(Malaysia/Indonesia) |
