By Julia Buckley, CNN
(CNN) — It was built to ferry horse-drawn carriages across a notoriously wild stretch of water, and was a crucial connection between two island nations during Europe’s industrial revolution.
When it was constructed in 1826, the bridge across the Menai Strait, between the north Wales mainland and the island of Anglesey, was a vision of the future. Suspended between the 1,368-foot gap at a height of 102 feet, this was the world’s first road suspension bridge to start construction. By the time it opened, it was the longest in the world, and remained so until the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883.
Perhaps more incredibly, the Menai Strait Bridge — or Pont Grog y Borth in Welsh — is still in use, over two centuries later. It celebrated its 200th anniversary on January 30.
“While there are a fair few bridges that have lasted 200 years or more — there are even Roman bridges — none of them look like this,” says Kerry Evans, the chartered engineer who manages the bridge and the modern A55 road around it.
“That expression of freedom in terms of innovation and design to develop a structure — that was absolutely bonkers when you look back now.”
Designed by Thomas Telford, one of the earliest civil engineers in history, the bridge didn’t just connect Anglesey to the Welsh mainland; it was also part of a network that linked two capitals, Dublin and London. A law passed in 1800 had officially united Ireland with Great Britain, creating the United Kingdom, and there was political pressure to build easy transport links between the capitals.
Ferries ran from Dublin to Holyhead, on Anglesey; but crossing from there to the Welsh mainland, also by ferry, was notoriously tricky. The Menai Strait was known for its currents, and crossings were often canceled. Anglesey farmers, known for their cattle-breeding, would drive their herds across the strait themselves, often losing animals to the waves. What’s more, the ferrymen would take advantage of passengers. “They blackmailed people — if the tide was coming in, they’d put up the price,” says William Day, a retired civil engineer and North Wales resident. It wasn’t the sophisticated, well-oiled system that a rapidly expanding empire sought to portray.
In 1815, the government voted to construct a road from London to Holyhead. Telford — a Scot who’d made a name for himself constructing canals and roads in the Midlands, at the heart of the industrial revolution — was employed to build it. And one of the last parts of that road — which ran through cities from Birmingham to Shrewsbury — would be the crossing of the Menai Strait.
Telford picked the shortest crossing, says Gordon Masterson, former president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and current chair of the Panel for Historic Engineering Works. So far, so regular. But then he made a startling choice for the 1,300ft wide span. Instead of planning a regular viaduct-style bridge, with columns marching across the water, embedded in the seabed, he planned a structure that floated above the strait, tethered to the land each side.
“That was the bold choice,” says Masterson. “Spans of this nature had never been done before.” In fact, at 1,368 feet, the deck he designed was two and a half times longer than what had been tried before on a road suspension bridge, he says. A traditional viaduct would have been more expensive to build, and could have obstructed shipping traffic. “Clearing the whole gaping broad sweep was his brilliant concept,” he says. “It was a shot to the moon in terms of civil engineering.”
“It set a standard for a very long time,” says Day, who has worked on the bridge on various projects. “That standard is still with us in many ways. It had a marked impact on engineering and society.”
The first stone was laid on August 10, 1819. Arches — made from