According to the dictionary, a bridge is a structure carrying a road, path, railroad, or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle. Bridges are essential for transportation. Whether it’s a canyon, or a body of water, bridges allow travel over those gaps from one part of land to the other. The world would be forever changed without bridges. The five main types of bridges are arch bridges, truss bridges, beam bridges, suspension, and cable-stayed bridges. Arch bridges are bridges that use arch as a main structural support/component.
Depending on how much weight is normally being applied on the bridge, they are made with one or more hinges. One of the more famous arch bridges is the hell gate bridge in New York. Truss bridges are bridges that use diagonal mesh of posts above the bridge. There are two common designs: the king posts and queen posts. The king posts use two diagonal posts supported by single vertical post in the center. The queen posts use two diagonal posts, two vertical pots and horizontal post that connect two vertical posts at the top. Beam bridges are simple bridges that are supported by several beams.
These beams come in a variety of shapes and sizes. One of the most famous beam bridge is lake pontchartrain causeway in southern Louisiana. A suspension bridge is a bridge in which its deck is hung from cables or ropes. The ropes/cables help hold the weight of the bridge and the weight exerted on the bridge. A very famous example of a suspension bridge is the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that uses one or more vertical column that are directly connected to deck cables. They can be connected in a harp design or a fan design. Bridges have an very important role in society and how people travel.
There are about 600,000 bridges in this world that all serve that exact purpose. Without bridges the worlds transportation will never be the same. Traveling to go from one side to another would then become very time consuming and very inconvenient for many people. People would have to use ferries, helicopters, take the long route and more just to be able to travel to their normal place. Bridges eliminate all the problem and they make life better for everyone. For example, without bridges it would be hard for the shipping of products to get to the place they have to go with no hassle.
It would take longer and that then effects the consumer. Bridges affects our lives everyday in a positive way. They provide an easy and simple transport from one side to another. It makes life for everybody easier. Bridges is and always will be an important part of the world. There are a lot of interesting facts about bridges that many people fail to know like how many there are in the world, what and where is the longest bridge, what is the most expensive bridge, where and what is the oldest bridge, and more.
According to the U. S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are approximately 600,000 bridges in the United States. The world’s longest bridge is the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge in China. The most expensive bridge is the Oakland Bay bridge in San Francisco. According to Guinness world records, the oldest bridge is the Bridge Over River Meles in Turkey. The Zhaozhou Bridge is the oldest standing bridge in China and the world’s oldest stone segmental arch bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge in New York was the longest suspension bridge when originally built. There are many more interesting facts about bridges but those are the main ones.
In conclusion, bridges play an essential role in the world. They are more valuable than many people might think. They basically just make life easier and without them the world and transportation would forever be changed for the worse. People use bridges to travel and typically it would be one of the five main types of bridges: arch bridges, suspension bridges, truss bridges, beam bridges, and cable-stayed bridges. Lastly there are a lot of interesting facts about the bridges that all people should know like how there are about 600,000 bridges in the world.