Sunday 2 January 2022

Bridge Postcards of 2021


There are 14 postcards in the 2021 survey of bridge themed cards.  Two have a story of renovation to tell.  The deck of the Union Chain Bridge that has spanned the river Tweed between England and Scotland since 1820 was removed in its entirety in March 2021 for rebuilding and although work has slipped behind schedule should be re-installed by late spring in 2022.  The Pont de Cubzac truss bridge was redesigned by Gustave Eiffel in the 1870s and crosses the Dordogne river a few miles north east of Bordeaux. It was the subject of a major restoration project in 2016-17 that extended its carrying capacity without compromising its appearance.  There’s a card from Minnesota that illustrates the consequences of careless navigation and the resulting destruction of the Interstate Bridge on Lake Superior that happened on August 11, 1906.  Other examples of American bridge building come from Portland Oregon, Poughkeepsie on the Hudson river and Davenport Iowa.  From Paris we have a card of the Pont d’Austerlitz - elsewhere in France there are bridges from Lyon, Nancy and Dinant. British examples come from the river Tyne (Newcastle Swing Bridge) and the river Teign (Shaldon Bridge, Teignmouth).  Finally, two from Germany - Holtenau is near Kiel and Höllental Viaduct is in the Black Forest.













 

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