59-510: The Kincardine Bridge is a road bridge crossing the Firth of Forth from Falkirk council area to Kincardine , Fife , Scotland. The bridge was constructed between 1932 and 1936, to a design by Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners , Consulting Engineers, and Architect, Donald Watson . It was the first road crossing of the River Forth downstream of Stirling , completed nearly thirty years before
118-596: A bridge-restaurant which is a bridge built to serve as a restaurant. Other suspension bridge towers carry transmission antennas. Conservationists use wildlife overpasses to reduce habitat fragmentation and animal-vehicle collisions. The first animal bridges sprung up in France in the 1950s, and these types of bridges are now used worldwide to protect both large and small wildlife. Bridges are subject to unplanned uses as well. The areas underneath some bridges have become makeshift shelters and homes to homeless people, and
177-520: A bridge is to be designed, standards authorities specify simplified notional load models, notably HL-93, intended to give the same load effects as the characteristic maximum values. The Eurocode is an example of a standard for bridge traffic loading that was developed in this way. Most bridge standards are only applicable for short and medium spans - for example, the Eurocode is only applicable for loaded lengths up to 200 m. Longer spans are dealt with on
236-471: A case-by-case basis. It is generally accepted that the intensity of load reduces as span increases because the probability of many trucks being closely spaced and extremely heavy reduces as the number of trucks involved increases. It is also generally assumed that short spans are governed by a small number of trucks traveling at high speed, with an allowance for dynamics. Longer spans on the other hand, are governed by congested traffic and no allowance for dynamics
295-480: A combination of structural health monitoring and testing. This is regulated in country-specific engineer standards and includes an ongoing monitoring every three to six months, a simple test or inspection every two to three years and a major inspection every six to ten years. In Europe, the cost of maintenance is considerable and is higher in some countries than spending on new bridges. The lifetime of welded steel bridges can be significantly extended by aftertreatment of
354-399: A different site, and re-used. They are important in military engineering and are also used to carry traffic while an old bridge is being rebuilt. Movable bridges are designed to move out of the way of boats or other kinds of traffic, which would otherwise be too tall to fit. These are generally electrically powered. The Tank bridge transporter (TBT) has the same cross-country performance as
413-594: A few will predominate. The separation of forces and moments may be quite clear. In a suspension or cable-stayed bridge , the elements in tension are distinct in shape and placement. In other cases the forces may be distributed among a large number of members, as in a truss. The world's longest beam bridge is Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in southern Louisiana in the United States, at 23.83 miles (38.35 km), with individual spans of 56 feet (17 m). Beam bridges are
472-564: A form of boardwalk across marshes ; examples of such bridges include the Sweet Track and the Post Track in England, approximately 6000 years old. Ancient people would also have used log bridges consisting of logs that fell naturally or were intentionally felled or placed across streams. Some of the first human-made bridges with significant span were probably intentionally felled trees. Among
531-640: A former network of roads, designed to accommodate chariots , between the fort of Tiryns and town of Epidauros in the Peloponnese , in southern Greece . Dating to the Greek Bronze Age (13th century BC), it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use. Several intact, arched stone bridges from the Hellenistic era can be found in the Peloponnese. The greatest bridge builders of antiquity were
590-404: A radial assembly of 60 solid cast steel rollers. The entire bridge opening procedure was controlled from a beautifully maintained control room, which has retained all the original fittings and open switchboards . The control room is suspended in a superstructure of the swing section, above the road level. The opening was controlled automatically, by the original GEC electrical switchgear . In
649-578: A span of 552 m (1,811 ft). The bridge was opened 29 April 2009, in Chongqing , China. The longest suspension bridge in the world is the 4,608 m (15,118 ft) 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey. The longest cable-stayed bridge since 2012 is the 1,104 m (3,622 ft) Russky Bridge in Vladivostok , Russia. Some Engineers sub-divide 'beam' bridges into slab, beam-and-slab and box girder on
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#1732844499241708-732: A stream. Often in palaces, a bridge will be built over an artificial waterway as symbolic of a passage to an important place or state of mind. A set of five bridges cross a sinuous waterway in an important courtyard of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The central bridge was reserved exclusively for the use of the Emperor and Empress, with their attendants. The estimated life of bridges varies between 25 and 80 years depending on location and material. Bridges may age hundred years with proper maintenance and rehabilitation. Bridge maintenance consisting of
767-479: A tank even when fully loaded. It can deploy, drop off and load bridges independently, but it cannot recover them. Double-decked (or double-decker) bridges have two levels, such as the George Washington Bridge , connecting New York City to Bergen County , New Jersey , US, as the world's busiest bridge, carrying 102 million vehicles annually; truss work between the roadway levels provided stiffness to
826-456: Is a bridge that carries water, resembling a viaduct, which is a bridge that connects points of equal height. A road-rail bridge carries both road and rail traffic. Overway is a term for a bridge that separates incompatible intersecting traffic, especially road and rail. Some bridges accommodate other purposes, such as the tower of Nový Most Bridge in Bratislava , which features a restaurant, or
885-462: Is also historically significant as it is the world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. European segmental arch bridges date back to at least the Alconétar Bridge (approximately 2nd century AD), while the enormous Roman era Trajan's Bridge (105 AD) featured open-spandrel segmental arches in wooden construction. Rope bridges , a simple type of suspension bridge , were used by
944-574: Is an early example of a double-decked bridge. The upper level carries a railway, and the lower level is used for road traffic. Other examples include Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait and Craigavon Bridge in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö consists of a four-lane highway on the upper level and a pair of railway tracks at the lower level. Tower Bridge in London
1003-485: Is different example of a double-decked bridge, with the central section consisting of a low-level bascule span and a high-level footbridge . A viaduct is made up of multiple bridges connected into one longer structure. The longest and some of the highest bridges are viaducts, such as the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and Millau Viaduct . A multi-way bridge has three or more separate spans which meet near
1062-417: Is led by architects, bridges are usually designed by engineers. This follows from the importance of the engineering requirements; namely spanning the obstacle and having the durability to survive, with minimal maintenance, in an aggressive outdoor environment. Bridges are first analysed; the bending moment and shear force distributions are calculated due to the applied loads. For this, the finite element method
1121-540: Is needed. Calculating the loading due to congested traffic remains a challenge as there is a paucity of data on inter-vehicle gaps, both within-lane and inter-lane, in congested conditions. Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems provide data on inter-vehicle gaps but only operate well in free flowing traffic conditions. Some authors have used cameras to measure gaps and vehicle lengths in jammed situations and have inferred weights from lengths using WIM data. Others have used microsimulation to generate typical clusters of vehicles on
1180-594: Is part of the A985 road (formerly A876 ), and carries a single lane in each direction. Until the opening of the Clackmannanshire Bridge in 2008, it was the customary diversion route for traffic north from Edinburgh and eastern Scotland when the Forth Road Bridge was closed or under repair. As a result of the additional traffic using the bridge at these times, joining the high volume of regular commuter traffic,
1239-737: Is the most popular. The analysis can be one-, two-, or three-dimensional. For the majority of bridges, a two-dimensional plate model (often with stiffening beams) is sufficient or an upstand finite element model. On completion of the analysis, the bridge is designed to resist the applied bending moments and shear forces, section sizes are selected with sufficient capacity to resist the stresses. Many bridges are made of prestressed concrete which has good durability properties, either by pre-tensioning of beams prior to installation or post-tensioning on site. In most countries, bridges, like other structures, are designed according to Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) principles. In simple terms, this means that
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#17328444992411298-434: The Forth Road Bridge , which stands fifteen miles (24 km) to the south-east. It first opened to traffic on 29 October 1936. Following a final opening on the 31 January 1988, the bridge was permanently closed, rendering it a fixed structure. The bridge was constructed with a swinging central section which remained in use until 1988, that would allow larger ships to sail upstream to the small port at Alloa . The bridge
1357-502: The Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 16th century. The Ashanti built bridges over streams and rivers . They were constructed by pounding four large forked tree trunks into the stream bed, placing beams along these forked pillars, then positioning cross-beams that were finally covered with four to six inches of dirt. During
1416-542: The Roman era , as the technology for cement was lost (then later rediscovered). In India, the Arthashastra treatise by Kautilya mentions the construction of dams and bridges. A Mauryan bridge near Girnar was surveyed by James Princep . The bridge was swept away during a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the chief architect of emperor Chandragupta I . The use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain
1475-833: The University of Minnesota ). Likewise, in Toronto , the Prince Edward Viaduct has five lanes of motor traffic, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks on its upper deck; and a pair of tracks for the Bloor–Danforth subway line on its lower deck. The western span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge also has two levels. Robert Stephenson 's High Level Bridge across the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne , completed in 1849,
1534-596: The ancient Romans . The Romans built arch bridges and aqueducts that could stand in conditions that would damage or destroy earlier designs, some of which still stand today. An example is the Alcántara Bridge , built over the river Tagus , in Spain. The Romans also used cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. One type of cement, called pozzolana , consisted of water, lime , sand, and volcanic rock . Brick and mortar bridges were built after
1593-495: The river Severn . With the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron does not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a high tensile strength, much larger bridges were built, many using the ideas of Gustave Eiffel . In Canada and the United States, numerous timber covered bridges were built in
1652-511: The 18th century, there were many innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich Grubenmann , Johannes Grubenmann , as well as others. The first book on bridge engineering was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716. A major breakthrough in bridge technology came with the erection of the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, England in 1779. It used cast iron for the first time as arches to cross
1711-853: The A804 was moved to its current route. Previously allocated to a road from A81 north of Anniesland to Scotstoun ; this is now the A739 and the unclassified Anniesland Road. Previously allocated to a road from Poltalloch Street to Bishopton Road in Lochgilphead . Became a portion of the A816 between 1981 and 1995. Originally ran from the A83 in Campbelltown to the pier; now part of the B842. First used from A822 to A85 in Crieff . Renumbered as
1770-614: The A822 mainline (not a spur) in 1934; the section along Lodge Street was probably declassified at the same time. Next used on a road from Gourock to Gourock ferry terminal (not shown on a 1976 OS map but does appear on a 1978 version). In 1985, the A8 and A78 were rerouted in the area, creating the A770. The rerouting of the A8 would have put the A825 out of zone, and it was renumbered to A771. Previously allocated to
1829-610: The appearance of the bridge can have great importance. Often, this is the case with a large bridge that serves as an entrance to a city, or crosses over a main harbor entrance. These are sometimes known as signature bridges. Designers of bridges in parks and along parkways often place more importance on aesthetics, as well. Examples include the stone-faced bridges along the Taconic State Parkway in New York. Bridges are typically more aesthetically pleasing if they are simple in shape,
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1888-613: The attention of the general public in the 1990s by the novel, movie and play The Bridges of Madison County . In 1927, welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded road bridge in the world, the Maurzyce Bridge which was later built across the river Słudwia at Maurzyce near Łowicz , Poland in 1929. In 1995, the American Welding Society presented the Historic Welded Structure Award for
1947-596: The basis of their cross-section. A slab can be solid or voided (though this is no longer favored for inspectability reasons) while beam-and-slab consists of concrete or steel girders connected by a concrete slab. A box-girder cross-section consists of a single-cell or multi-cellular box. In recent years, integral bridge construction has also become popular. Most bridges are fixed bridges, meaning they have no moving parts and stay in one place until they fail or are demolished. Temporary bridges, such as Bailey bridges , are designed to be assembled, taken apart, transported to
2006-432: The bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it. The earliest bridges were likely made with fallen trees and stepping stones . The Neolithic people built boardwalk bridges across marshland. The Arkadiko Bridge , dating from the 13th century BC, in the Peloponnese is one of the oldest arch bridges in existence and use. The Oxford English Dictionary traces
2065-437: The bridge to Poland. Bridges can be categorized in several different ways. Common categories include the type of structural elements used, by what they carry, whether they are fixed or movable, and by the materials used. Bridges may be classified by how the actions of tension , compression , bending , torsion and shear are distributed through their structure. Most bridges will employ all of these to some degree, but only
2124-461: The bridge was to sit with its full weight on the rollers for any length of time, the rollers would become distorted, preventing a smooth passage during the swinging process. It is for this reason that wedges are used to lift the bridge off the rollers, after each opening is completed. While the bridge is now a fixed structure, the control and engine rooms are preserved by the Bo'ness Heritage Trust. The bridge
2183-694: The bridge. A876 road List of A roads in zone 8 in Great Britain starting north of the A8 and west of the A9 (roads beginning with 8). Previously allocated to Sauchiehall Street and Parliamentary Road (now gone due to gentrification of central Glasgow and Townhead in the 1960s) from Argyle Street (then the A814) to the A803; this was declassified when the M8 started construction, and
2242-439: The center of the bridge. Multi-way bridges with only three spans appear as a "T" or "Y" when viewed from above. Multi-way bridges are extremely rare. The Tridge , Margaret Bridge , and Zanesville Y-Bridge are examples. A bridge can be categorized by what it is designed to carry, such as trains, pedestrian or road traffic ( road bridge ), a pipeline ( Pipe bridge ) or waterway for water transport or barge traffic. An aqueduct
2301-467: The deck is thinner in proportion to its span, the lines of the structure are continuous, and the shapes of the structural elements reflect the forces acting on them. To create a beautiful image, some bridges are built much taller than necessary. This type, often found in east-Asian style gardens, is called a Moon bridge , evoking a rising full moon. Other garden bridges may cross only a dry bed of stream-washed pebbles, intended only to convey an impression of
2360-409: The engine room a 25 horsepower hydraulic pump was activated, retracting the wedges and blocking points. At this point, the central swing span would be free to rest on the rollers, thus the bridge was ready to swing. By this point, the safety gates would have also descended, blocking further traffic. Two 50 horsepower, 440v electric motors induced rotation from large trains of gears on either side of
2419-431: The engine room. The initial opening process took around 2 minutes. The gearing produced a 171:1 reduction, and the bridge revolved slowly on a circular cast steel rack, with 224 machined teeth. During the rotation, the entire 1,600 ton weight of the swing span rests upon 60 cast steel rollers in the central pier beneath the engine room. The rollers are 16 inches long, are tapered and have an average diameter of 20 inches. If
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2478-485: The lake. Between 1358 and 1360, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria , built a 'new' wooden bridge across the lake that was used until 1878; it was approximately 1,450 metres (4,760 ft) long and 4 metres (13 ft) wide. On 6 April 2001, a reconstruction of the original wooden footbridge was opened; it is also the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland. The Arkadiko Bridge is one of four Mycenaean corbel arch bridges part of
2537-748: The late 1700s to the late 1800s, reminiscent of earlier designs in Germany and Switzerland. Some covered bridges were also built in Asia. In later years, some were partly made of stone or metal but the trusses were usually still made of wood; in the United States, there were three styles of trusses, the Queen Post, the Burr Arch and the Town Lattice. Hundreds of these structures still stand in North America. They were brought to
2596-427: The load is factored up by a factor greater than unity, while the resistance or capacity of the structure is factored down, by a factor less than unity. The effect of the factored load (stress, bending moment) should be less than the factored resistance to that effect. Both of these factors allow for uncertainty and are greater when the uncertainty is greater. Most bridges are utilitarian in appearance, but in some cases,
2655-616: The oldest timber bridges is the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden bridge that crossed upper Lake Zürich in Switzerland; prehistoric timber pilings discovered to the west of the Seedamm causeway date back to 1523 BC. The first wooden footbridge there led across Lake Zürich; it was reconstructed several times through the late 2nd century AD, when the Roman Empire built a 6-metre-wide (20 ft) wooden bridge to carry transport across
2714-495: The origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg , of the same meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary also notes that there is some suggestion that the word can be traced directly back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. However, they also note that "this poses semantic problems." The origin of the word for the card game of the same name is unknown. The simplest and earliest types of bridges were stepping stones . Neolithic people also built
2773-629: The past, these load models were agreed by standard drafting committees of experts but today, this situation is changing. It is now possible to measure the components of bridge traffic load, to weigh trucks, using weigh-in-motion (WIM) technologies. With extensive WIM databases, it is possible to calculate the maximum expected load effect in the specified return period. This is an active area of research, addressing issues of opposing direction lanes, side-by-side (same direction) lanes, traffic growth, permit/non-permit vehicles and long-span bridges (see below). Rather than repeat this complex process every time
2832-405: The path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross. There are many different designs of bridges, each serving a particular purpose and applicable to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on factors such as the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where
2891-468: The principles of Load and Resistance Factor Design . Before factoring to allow for uncertainty, the load effect is generally considered to be the maximum characteristic value in a specified return period . Notably, in Europe, it is the maximum value expected in 1000 years. Bridge standards generally include a load model, deemed to represent the characteristic maximum load to be expected in the return period. In
2950-742: The roadways and reduced movement of the upper level when the lower level was installed three decades after the upper level. The Tsing Ma Bridge and Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong have six lanes on their upper decks, and on their lower decks there are two lanes and a pair of tracks for MTR metro trains. Some double-decked bridges only use one level for street traffic; the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis reserves its lower level for automobile and light rail traffic and its upper level for pedestrian and bicycle traffic (predominantly students at
3009-698: The same year, has the span of 90 m (295 ft) and crosses the valley of the Syrabach River. The difference between the two is that the Solkan Bridge was built from stone blocks, whereas the Friedensbrücke was built from a mixture of crushed stone and cement mortar. The world's largest arch bridge is the Chaotianmen Bridge over the Yangtze River with a length of 1,741 m (5,712 ft) and
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#17328444992413068-637: The simplest and oldest type of bridge in use today, and are a popular type. Some cantilever bridges also have a smaller beam connecting the two cantilevers, for extra strength. The largest cantilever bridge is the 549-metre (1,801 ft) Quebec Bridge in Quebec, Canada. With the span of 220 metres (720 ft), the Solkan Bridge over the Soča River at Solkan in Slovenia is the second-largest stone bridge in
3127-487: The town of Kincardine was frequently congested. In 2023 work began to replace a section of the southern viaduct which had been assessed in 1984 as 'substandard' and reinforced in 1992 with steel supports. Power for swinging the bridge was provided in the engine room, in the base of the centre pier, which was itself supplied with electricity from the Fife shore, by underwater cable. The swing section weighs 1,600 tons and rotates on
3186-740: The undertimbers of bridges all around the world are spots of prevalent graffiti. Some bridges attract people attempting suicide, and become known as suicide bridges . The materials used to build the structure are also used to categorize bridges. Until the end of the 18th century, bridges were made out of timber, stone and masonry. Modern bridges are currently built in concrete, steel, fiber reinforced polymers (FRP), stainless steel or combinations of those materials. Living bridges have been constructed of live plants such as Ficus elastica tree roots in India and wisteria vines in Japan. Unlike buildings whose design
3245-433: The weld transitions . This results in a potential high benefit, using existing bridges far beyond the planned lifetime. While the response of a bridge to the applied loading is well understood, the applied traffic loading itself is still the subject of research. This is a statistical problem as loading is highly variable, particularly for road bridges. Load Effects in bridges (stresses, bending moments) are designed for using
3304-448: The world and the longest railroad stone bridge. It was completed in 1905. Its arch, which was constructed from over 5,000 tonnes (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of stone blocks in just 18 days, is the second-largest stone arch in the world, surpassed only by the Friedensbrücke (Syratalviadukt) in Plauen , and the largest railroad stone arch. The arch of the Friedensbrücke, which was built in
3363-523: Was closed temporarily for upgrading works in 2011. With the opening of the new bridge, the Kincardine Bridge was re-numbered as part of the A985 while the new Clackmannanshire Bridge became part of the re-routed A876 , forming the Kincardine bypass. Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water , valley , road, or railway) without blocking
3422-502: Was constructed in the open position, and during the opening ceremony in 1936, it was closed into its current position, to allow the first road vehicles to cross. The original bridge, at over 70 years old, was identified by the Scottish Executive as being in need of replacement. The new Clackmannanshire Bridge was opened on 19 November 2008. The original bridge was given Category A listed status by Historic Scotland in 2005, and
3481-665: Was visible in India by about the 4th century. A number of bridges, both for military and commercial purposes, were constructed by the Mughal administration in India. Although large bridges of wooden construction existed in China at the time of the Warring States period , the oldest surviving stone bridge in China is the Zhaozhou Bridge , built from 595 to 605 AD during the Sui dynasty . This bridge
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