Rough Roman Memes

There's an example of this going backwards in Scotland. There was a rail bridge built over the River Tay (one of the biggest in the UK) in the 1870s that used a whole bunch of then-new ideas, taking particular inspiration from the Crystal Palace and the work of Gustave Eiffel. The aim was to give ships passing underneath more clearance and to reduce the cost. The engineer that designed it was knighted for his work.

Less than two years after the bridge opened, it collapsed under high wind while a train was crossing it. At least 59 people died. The engineer was, at that time, already working on a bridge to cross another of Scotland's biggest rivers just a little bit south of the Tay. This ended immediately.

There was absolutely no chance anyone was letting the same thing happen again. As such, the Forth rail bridge would go on to use twice as much material despite being shorter and also made from stronger metal. The thing is just a mountain of steel. It still sees sees regular use to this day, well over a century after it was built