1. The Camille de Hougues bridge in Chatellerault, France

The Lockyer Creek bridge is an example of the early use of reinforced concrete in bridge building in Australia. It was only 10 years earlier, that a bridge of significant size using this technique was built in France. The Camille de Hogues bridge (named for a town mayor) was built in 1899, over the Vienne River in Chatellerault. This road bridge had a strategic purpose - to join the commercial part of town to the armament works on the west side of the river. Another multi-arched stone bridge 500 metres to the north, was built around 1600. Like the Camille de Hogues bridge, it is now classed as a National Monument. I visited both bridges in 2014, the area being only 3/4 hour south of Tours in the Loire valley.

Unlike the Lockyer Creek bridge, with its separated spandrel arches, these 3 arches are constructed in a solid section, with vertical pillars supporting the deck.

2. The Skovorodino Trans-Siberian railway bridge in eastern Russia.

In 2026 in following a geographical Youtube video (acknowledgment to Lisa the Russian) regarding eastern Russia, I came across this example of early concrete bridge building. The Amur River is a significant geographical feature of eastern Russia, and the Skovorodino bridge was commenced in 1907 and completed in 1910 when Russia was still a monarchist (Czarist) country. It was part of the Trans-Siberian Railway construction effort. At this point we are talking about headwaters of the Amur River, which becomes much wider on its way to the Sea of Okhotsk which is part of the Pacific Ocean. In its lower parts the Amur becomes the border between Russia and China.

Here is another overhead image of the 5 arched bridge taken sometime between 2015 and 2025 (with acknowledgement to www.alamy.com).

It might be noted that the geometry of the later Lockyer Creek bridge is of open braced parabolic arches, whereas both the Chatellerault and Skovorodino are solid circular. And the connecting vertical deck supports in the Lockyer Creek example are open braced, whereas the others are solid.

Bibliography:

For more information on the Chatellerault bridge, including a 2009 refurbishment of a central foundation, see http://structurae.net/structures/camille-de-hogues-bridge