Tay Road Bridge Hunter. The nickname “Steve” won an online poll to nickname the Bridge. The Tay Road Bridge was built to replace the former Tay ferry service, popularly known in Dundee as "the Fifie". A passenger and vehicle ferry service across the River Tay operated from Craigie Pier, Dundee, to Newport-on-Tay. Four vessels formerly operated the service, namely the "B. L. Nairn" and "Sir William High" (both Paddle Steamers built in 1929); the "Abercraig" and the "Scotscraig" (diesel powered, fitted with Voith Schneider propellors and built in the Caledon Shipyard in Dundee). The final ferry service was made on the day of
Tay Rail Bridge Bouch had used the technique for viaducts including the Belah Viaduct (1860)) on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway line over Stainmore, but for the Tay Bridge, even with the largest practicable caissons the pier dimensions were constrained by their size. Bouch’s pier design set six columns in a hexagon maximising the pier width but not the number of diagonal braces directly resisting sideways forces. The engineering details on the Tay Bridge were considerably simpler, lighter, and cheaper than on the earlier viaducts. On these the machined base of each column section docked securely into a machined enlarged section