Completed in 1850 the Brittania Bridge was the brainchild of Robert Stephenson and was at the cutting edge of civil engineering at the time, with all aspects of construction on a scale unprecedented. Construction began in 1846 and was completed in 1850. The bridge was expected to carry the Chester and Holyhead Railway across the Menai Strait. The Brittania Bridge had to be a tubular bridge to meet the criteria set by the Board of Admiralty, which required the span of the bridge to be at least 100 feet above the Menai Strait at all points. This was the first of many problems encountered and resolved during the conception and construction of the bridge. The proposed route for the railway line was originally surveyed in 1838 by George Stephenson, however it was intended that the route would use the existing Menai Suspension Bridge to cross the Menai Strait (Robbins, 1981). The rail cars would be pulled across the bridge by horses; Robert Stephenson did not think this was adequate and proposed building a new bridge instead. It is now widely accepted that due to the increased load the Menai Suspension Bridge would collapse (Beckett, 1984). In 1845 Robert Stephenson managed to convince parliament that the project was feasible, although no in-depth analysis had been carried out at that point. This analysis fell to William Fairbairn; expressed the opinion that the tubular structure could be constructed in such a way as to support not only its own weight but also a uniformly distributed load of 20,000 kn. This high load capacity was due to the revolutionary design, with cellular flanges on the top and bottom of the tubes, resistant to compression failure (Beckett, 1984). Fairbairn further proposed that a catenary form of c...... center of card...... be preserved on the Caernarvon side of the bridge, the lasting legacy of such a magnificent feat of Victorian engineering. Works Cited BECKETT, D 1984. Stephenson's Britain, Newton Abbot, Devon; North Pomfret, Vt, David & Charles.BREESE, G. 2001. The bridges of Wales, Llanrwst, Wales, Gwasg Carrech Gwalch.ROBBINS, M. 1981. George & Robert Stephenson, London, HMSOPatrick Robertson, Menai Heritage Experience — History of the Britannia Bridge. Available at: http://www.prosiectmenai.co.uk/bbhistory.php [Accessed 28 October 2011].Warren Kovach, Menai Strait Bridges. Bridges over the Menai Strait. Available at: http://www.anglesey-history.co.uk/places/bridges/ [Accessed 25 October 2011].Patrick Robertson, Menai Heritage Experience - History of the Britannia Bridge. Available at: http://www.prosiectmenai.co.uk/bbhistory.php [Accessed October 28, 2011].