A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides funds for its maintenance. The bridge is built to a design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is a grade I listed building and forms part of the B3129 road.
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 John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, originally known as the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span, which was later overtaken by John A. Roebling's most famous design of the 1883 Brooklyn Bridge at 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m). Pedestrians use the bridge to get between the sports venues in Cincinnati and the hotels, bars, restaurants, and parking lots in Northern Kentucky. The bar and restaurant district at the foot of the bridge on the Kentucky side is known as Roebling Point.
Chelsea Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames in west London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank, and split between the City of Westminster, the London Borough of Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. There have been two Chelsea Bridges, on the site of what was an ancient ford.
Britannia Bridge is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. It was originally designed and built by the noted railway engineer Robert Stephenson as a tubular bridge of wrought iron rectangular box-section spans for carrying rail traffic. Its importance was to form a critical link of the Chester and Holyhead Railway's route, enabling trains to directly travel between London and the port of Holyhead, thus facilitating a sea link to Dublin, Ireland.
Howrah Bridge is a balanced cantilever 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 two cities of Howrah and Kolkata (Calcutta). On 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu after the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate. It is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.
The Union Bridge, also known as the Union Suspension Bridge or Union Chain Bridge, is a suspension bridge that spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Scottish Borders, Scotland. In so doing, the chain bridge also spans the border between England and Scotland. When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 449 feet (137 m), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom. Although work started on the Menai Suspension Bridge first, the Union Bridge was completed earlier. Today it is the oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic and is a Category A listed building in Scotland and a Grade I listed building in England. It lies on Sustrans Route 1 and the Pennine Cycleway.
Chepstow Railway Bridge was built to the instructions of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1852. The "Great Tubular Bridge" over the River Wye at Chepstow, which at that point forms the boundary between Wales and England, is considered one of Brunel's major achievements, despite its appearance. It was economical in its use of materials, and would prove to be the design prototype for Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. Although the superstructure has since been replaced, Brunel's tubular iron supports are still in place. It is a Grade II listed structure.
The Waldo–Hancock Bridge was the first long-span suspension bridge erected in Maine, as well as the first permanent bridge across the Penobscot River below Bangor. The name comes from connecting Waldo and Hancock counties. The bridge was built in 1931 and retired in 2006, when the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge was opened just a few yards away, and it was demolished in 2013.
Locke Avenue Bridge is located on Locke Avenue, a two-lane rural route located at the northwest corner of Swedesboro in Gloucester County, New Jersey. This roadway runs generally north-south, connecting Auburn Road with U.S. Route 322. The posted speed limit on Locke Avenue is 40 miles per hour (60 km/h).
The 1950 Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that carries the westbound lanes of Washington State Route 16 across the Tacoma Narrows strait, between the city of Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. Opened on October 14, 1950, it was built in the same location as the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed due to a windstorm on November 7, 1940. It is the older of the twin bridges that make up the Tacoma Narrows Bridge crossing of the Tacoma Narrows, and carried both directions of traffic across the strait until 2007. At the time of its construction, the bridge was, like its predecessor, the third-longest suspension bridge in the world in terms of main span length, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and George Washington Bridge; it is now the 46th longest suspension bridge in the world.
The Kalemouth Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge at Kalemouth in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near the B6401. It crosses the River Teviot just above its confluence with the Kale Water, near Eckford.
Victoria Bridge in Bath, England, was built in 1836 across the River Avon. The bridge has been recognised as a Grade II* listed building.
James Dredge (1794–1863) was an English civil engineer, architect and brewer. He was born in Bath and was a brewer by trade for much of his life. He designed over 50 bridges and piers in his later years, such as the Victoria Bridge in Bath in 1836, and the Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare in 1845.
The Wellington Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing the River Dee from Ferryhill to Craiglug in Aberdeen, north east Scotland. Designed by Captain Samuel Brown and the Aberdeen City Architect John Smith, it was opened to pedestrians in November 1830 and to traffic in May 1831. The chain bridge was closed in 1984 to vehicles and then pedestrians in 2002, but was restored in 2006/07 and pedestrian use was re-instated in 2008.
Ferry Bridge is a Victorian pedestrian bridge over the River Trent in Staffordshire, England. The bridge and its extension, the Stapenhill Viaduct, link Burton upon Trent town centre to the suburb of Stapenhill half a mile away on the other side of the river.
The taper suspension bridge is a bridge design patented by James Dredge in 1836.
The Surtees Rail Bridge is a rail bridge on the Tees Valley Line over the River Tees in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. The bridge is south of Stockton-on-Tees town centre and just north of the adjacent Surtees Bridge which carries the A66 road. The bridge is built on the site of a series of Tees Bridges alternating between two adjacent crossing sites.
The Old Boardman Bridge, formerly Boardman Bridge, is a historic lenticular truss bridge, which used to carry Boardman Road across the Housatonic River in New Milford, Connecticut. Built from 1887 to 1888 out of wrought iron, it is one of the state's three surviving examples of this bridge type, and along with Lover's Leap Bridge, one of two in New Milford. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The bridge was closed to vehicles in 1984 and to pedestrians in 1985; however, the Town of New Milford is seeking to restore it and reopen it to pedestrian traffic.
