How did bridges evolve from tiny bamboo
walkways spanning streams to super-long
suspension bridges connecting islands? How did
buildings surge from ground-hugging
townhouses to cloud-busting skyscrapers? In a
landmark, four-part CGI-driven series, Big, Bigger,
Biggest reveals the inventions that enabled
structures to grow in size and scale. The subject
of this week’s film is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in
Japan – the world’s longest suspension bridge.
Big, Bigger, Biggest charts the engineering
evolution of a range of iconic structures that have
become part of modern living: skyscrapers,
bridges, aircraft carriers and airports. Each
programme begins by showcasing the largest
example of its kind and poses the question: ‘How
did it grow so big?’ Rolling back the clock and
winding down the scale, the shows then reveal
the inventions that allowed these structures to
gradually grow to such massive proportions.
This film reveals how a number of technological
breakthroughs enabled engineers to build the
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan – a suspension
bridge measuring nearly two miles in length that
crosses the Akashi Strait. The amount of wire
used to make up the cables of the bridge could
stretch around the world more than seven times.
Huge anchorages weighing some 350,000
tonnes were needed to prevent the Akashi Kaikyo
Bridge from pulling out of the ground, and the
world’s biggest caissons were constructed to
enable towers as tall as the Eiffel Tower to be built
above waters 60 metres deep. Before work on the
bridge could begin, Japanese engineers built the
world’s largest scale model, which, at 40 metres
long, was a bridge in its own right.
Connecting Awaji Island to the Japanese
mainland, the Akashi bridge proved the most
challenging part of an ambitious project to link
Japan’s four main islands together. The Akashi
Strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the
world, meaning engineers had to deal with 1,400
vessels passing through the channel every day,
along with very deep waters and fast currents. They
also had to bridge a gap 3,911 metres wide, and
withstand a major earthquake during construction.
At a cost of 4.5 billion US dollars, the most
expensive suspension bridge ever constructed
took a total of ten years to complete, and required
over 190,000 tonnes of steel, 1,420,000 cubic
metres of concrete and a total labour force of 2.1
million people. But the construction of Akashi
Kaiyko Bridge was only possible because of a
number of key engineering achievements
throughout history.
In tracing these historical developments, Big,
Bigger, Biggest examines a range of landmark
bridges that preceded the Akashi. The journey
begins with the Iron Bridge in Shropshire – the
world’s first metal bridge, before moving onto
Thomas Telford’s reinvention of the suspensionbridge
concept with the Menai Bridge in Wales.
The programme then recounts how cablespinning
techniques developed to build the
Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge and how
underwater foundations evolved to create the
Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Later, the construction of taller towers enabled
San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge to
be built, while aerodynamic designs were key to
the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York.
Exploring each bridge in order of increasing
size, Big, Bigger, Biggest reveals the incredible
stories behind the structures and examines the
inventions that allowed engineers to dream of
ever larger projects. At every stage, the
documentary shows how each invention has
been applied in the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.
Using a combination of spectacular CGI
animation and on-location filming, this
documentary provides a fascinating explanation
of how ingenious technology enabled bridge
design to evolve into the ultimate superstructure.