COMMUNICA | No.3
As these pictures show, 1950s construction of the
Forth Road Bridge was a dangerous affair. Seven
people lost their lives during the building of
the bridge, which was eventually opened by Her
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in 1964
F
or a thousand years people have endeavoured to cross the Firth of Forth
– the famous estuary which splits the
Scottish first city of Edinburgh on the
south side of the riverbank, with the County of
Fife, to the north.
It was not until the 11th Century when Queen Margaret of Wessex [later St Margaret of Scotland] approved the opening of a ferry between the North and
South banks of the estuary, which allowed scheduled
crossings between the two destinations, leading to
the naming of the towns North and South Queensferry which lie at polar sides of the riverbanks.
In the past 100 years and, thanks to British intuition
during the industrial revolution, a permanent bridge
was commissioned to accommodate the UK’s advancing rail networks to link the communities.
Designed by engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, it would take about eight years to build
and was opened by the Prince of Wales, Edward
VII, in 1890 - Today, the bridge is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site and an important attraction for tourists
visiting Edinburgh.
About 60 years after the Forth Bridge, plans would
be drawn up to accommodate Britain’s advancements in road travel and the rise of motorised personal transport during the great motor car ‘boom’ of
the post-war 1940s and 1950s.
John was given the task of
laying the explosive charges
to make way for the bridge
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Pictures appear courtesy of Vodafone.
It was in the late 1950s that John Boyle, then a
young man in his 20s, worked for John Howard & Co
on the construction of the Forth Road Bridge - the
company which would also famously build the Humber and Severn Bridges.
An explosive expert, John was tasked with blasting
the new anchorage tunnels required for the new
Forth Road Bridge.
Explosions would also ensure the removal of hard
rock from the tunnel route.
When built the bridge be opened by Queen Elizabeth
II in 1964 and would become the largest crossing in
the world outside of the USA - San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge holding the record at the time.
In the present day, his son Denis Boyle, Director of
Scottish-based utilities contractor C-Plan, is now
also working on the newest road crossing; The
Queensferry Crossing, which is set to open next
year in 2017.
C-Plan, which working as a subcontracted partner
to John Henry Group on the national Vodafone fibre
services contract has been conducting telecoms cable and network diversionary works to accomodate
the superstructure of the Queensferry Crossing.