Generation game makes long spans possible

摘要

With the Messina Crossing now given the green light, it was fitting that one of the keynote speakers at the recent bridge conference in Shanghai - the Third international conference on current and future trends in bridge design, construction and maintenance - should be Bill Brown of consultant Brown Beech & Associates. Brown, who is a recognised world-expert on long-span suspension bridges, traced the major developments in suspension bridge technology over the last couple of centuries that have led up to the development of the Messina Crossing design. The conference was originally scheduled to take place in April of this year, but was postponed because of the Sars epidemic that caused havoc with business travel in the region. Organisers the Institution of Civil Engineers and Jiaotong University decided to put off the event until later in the year.