A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern or a series of parallel lines. This is in contrast to the modern suspension bridge, where the cables supporting the deck are suspended vertically from the main cable, anchored at both ends of the bridge and running between the towers. The cable-stayed bridge is optimal for spans longer than cantilever bridges and shorter than suspension bridges. This is the range within which cantilever bridges would rapidly grow heavier, and suspension bridge cabling would be more costly.
The Quebec Bridge is a road, rail, and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy and Lévis, in Quebec, Canada. The project failed twice during its construction, in 1907 and 1916, at the cost of 88 lives and additional people injured. It took more than 30 years to complete and eventually opened in 1919.
The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, often referred to as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the Sunshine Skyway, or simply "the Skyway", is a pair of long beam bridges with a central tall cable-stayed bridge that spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg, Florida, to Terra Ceia. The current Sunshine Skyway opened in 1987 and is the second bridge of that name on the site. It was designed by the Figg & Muller Engineering Group and built by the American Bridge Company. The bridge is considered the flagship bridge of Florida and serves as a gateway to Tampa Bay. The four-lane bridge carries Interstate 275 and U.S. Route 19, passing through Pinellas County, Hillsborough County and Manatee County. It is a toll road, with a $1.75 toll assessed on two-axle vehicles traveling in either direction and collected via cash or the state's SunPass system as a reduced toll of $1.16.
The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, also called the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and Second Narrows Bridge, is the second bridge constructed at the Second (east) Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Originally named the Second Narrows Bridge, it connects Vancouver to the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, which includes the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. It was constructed adjacent to the older Second Narrows Bridge, which is now exclusively a rail bridge. Its construction, from 1956 to 1960, was marred by a multi-death collapse on June 17, 1958. The First Narrows Bridge, better known as Lions Gate Bridge, crosses Burrard Inlet about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the Second Narrows.
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from structural steel, or box girders built from prestressed concrete.
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. There are several types of truss bridges, including some with simple designs that were among the first bridges designed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A truss bridge is economical to construct primarily because it uses materials efficiently.
The Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans more than two miles (3.2 km) from Boston to Chelsea over the Mystic River in Massachusetts. The bridge is the largest in New England. It is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and carries U.S. Route 1. It was built between 1948 and 1950 and opened to traffic on February 2, 1950, replacing the former Chelsea Bridge. The 36-foot (11 m)-wide roadway has three lanes of traffic on each of the two levels with northbound traffic on the lower level and southbound traffic on the upper level.
The Carquinez Bridge is a pair of parallel bridges spanning the Carquinez Strait at the northeastern end of San Francisco Bay. They form the part of Interstate 80 between Crockett and Vallejo, California, United States.
The MV Summit Venture was a bulk carrier which collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980, causing a partial collapse of the bridge which killed 35 people.
The Howrah Bridge is a balanced steel bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the cities of Howrah and Kolkata, which are located at the opposite banks of each other. On 14 June 1965, it was renamed Rabindra Setu after the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate. It is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.
The eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was a construction project to replace a seismically unsound portion of the Bay Bridge with a new self-anchored suspension bridge (SAS) and a pair of viaducts. The bridge is in the U.S. state of California and crosses the San Francisco Bay between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland. The span replacement took place between 2002 and 2013, and is the most expensive public works project in California history, with a final price tag of $6.5 billion, a 2,500% increase from the original estimate of $250 million, which was an initial estimate for a seismic retrofit of the span, not the full span replacement ultimately completed. Originally scheduled to open in 2007, several problems delayed the opening until September 2, 2013. With a width of 258.33 ft (78.74 m), comprising 10 general-purpose lanes, it is the world's widest bridge according to Guinness World Records.
The Jamestown Bridge was a cantilever truss bridge that connected Conanicut Island to mainland North Kingstown, Rhode Island, spanning the West passage of Narragansett Bay. The bridge first opened to traffic in 1940, replacing ferry service as the primary connection for the town of Jamestown, situated on Conanicut Island. It was constructed for just over $3 million 1940 USD, which was paid for by tolls until June 28, 1969. With a total length of 6,892 feet, the Jamestown Bridge was the third longest in Rhode Island at the time of its destruction, ranking behind its replacement, the adjacent 7,350-foot Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, and the 11,248-foot Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge connecting Conanicut Island to Aquidneck Island and Newport. The Jamestown Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic on October 8, 1992, and its main span was destroyed through a controlled demolition on April 18, 2006.
The Huey P. Long Bridge, located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is a cantilevered steel through-truss bridge that carries a two-track railroad line over the Mississippi River at mile 106.1, with three lanes of US 90 on each side of the central tracks. It is several kilometers upriver from the city of New Orleans. The East Bank entrance is at Elmwood, Louisiana, and the West Bank at Bridge City.
A segmental bridge is a bridge built in short sections, i.e., one piece at a time, as opposed to traditional methods that build a bridge in very large sections. The bridge is made of concrete that is either cast-in-place or precast concrete.
The Varodd Bridges are two parallel cantilever bridges in Kristiansand municipality, in Agder county, Norway, and they cross the Topdalsfjorden. They are named after the peninsula on the western shore. It goes from Vige and ends in Søm in Kristiansand. The bridges carry the European route E18 highway over the fjord.
A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads across all the spans; in a series of simple trusses, each truss must be capable of supporting the entire load.
James Finley, aka Judge James Finley, is widely recognized as the first designer and builder of the modern suspension bridge. Born in Ireland, Finley moved to a 287-acre (1.16 km2) farm in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, near Uniontown. Elected a justice of the peace in 1784, he went on to become county commissioner in 1789, and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. From 1791 until his death, he was an Associate Judge for Fayette County.
His Jacob's Creek Bridge, built in 1801 for US$600, and demolished in 1833, was the first example of a suspension bridge using wrought iron chains and with a level deck. It connected Uniontown to Greensburg, spanning 70 feet, and was 12 feet 6 inches (3.81 m) wide.
Finley is also credited with designing and constructing a chain suspension bridge across Dunlap's Creek in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1809. In 1820, however, the bridge collapsed under a heavy snow combined with the loads from a six-horse wagon team. The bridge was replaced by the Dunlap's Creek Bridge, the country's first cast-iron bridge, in 1835.
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was designed by English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. It is sometimes referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge, although this is not its official name.
The Hay Bridge is a road bridge that carries the Cobb Highway across the Murrumbidgee River at Hay, New South Wales, Australia. The current bridge is the second bridge located in Hay that crosses the Murrumbidgee; the first bridge was in operation from 1873 until 1973; the second and current bridge has operated since 1973.
