A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right. Small swing bridges as found over canals may be pivoted only at one end, opening as would a gate, but require substantial underground structure to support the pivot.
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 may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. The basic types of truss bridges shown in this article have simple designs which could be easily analyzed by 19th and early 20th-century engineers. A truss bridge is economical to construct because it uses materials efficiently.
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
Dr. John Alexander Low Waddell was a Canadian-American civil engineer and prolific bridge designer, with more than a thousand structures to his credit in the United States, Canada, as well as Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, and New Zealand. Waddell’s work set standards for elevated railroad systems and helped develop materials suitable for large span bridges. His most important contribution was the development of the steam-powered high-lift bridge. Waddell was a widely respected writer on bridge design and engineering theory, as well as an advocate for quality in higher education engineering programs. The company he founded in 1887, 'J.A.L. Waddell, Consulting Engineer,' would eventually become the modern day Hardesty & Hanover, a leading moveable bridge engineering firm. Many of Waddell's surviving bridges are now considered historic landmarks.
A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with drawbridge, and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical definition used in some other forms of English, in which drawbridge refers to only a specific type of moveable bridge often found in castles.
The Delair Bridge is a railroad bridge with a vertical-lift section that crosses the Delaware River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, just south of the Betsy Ross Bridge. The two-track bridge is part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations and is jointly used by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation freight trains, as well as by the New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line service.
The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is a lift bridge spanning the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, carrying traffic of U.S. Route 1 Bypass. An original bridge by the same name was in operation from 1940 until 2016. A replacement span opened in March 2018.
The Armour-Swift-Burlington (ASB) Bridge, also known as the North Kansas City Bridge and the LRC Bridge, is a rail crossing over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, that formerly handled automobile traffic.
The Meridian Highway Bridge is a bridge that formerly carried U.S. Route 81 across the Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota. The Meridian Highway Bridge connects Yankton, South Dakota with rural Cedar County, Nebraska. The Meridian Bridge is a double deck bridge, with the top level having carried traffic into South Dakota from Nebraska, and the lower level having carried traffic into Nebraska from South Dakota.
Amtrak's Thames River Bridge spans from New London to Groton, Connecticut, United States, crossing Connecticut's Thames River.
Mondak is a ghost town in Roosevelt County, Montana, United States, which flourished c. 1903–1919, in large measure by selling alcohol to residents of North Dakota, then a dry state.
The Amtrak Old Saybrook – Old Lyme Bridge is the last crossing of the Connecticut River before it reaches Long Island Sound. It is a Truss bridge with a bascule span, allowing boat traffic to go through. Its tracks are owned by Amtrak and used by Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Shore Line East trains traversing the Northeast Corridor. It can be seen from the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge, as well as from various points on Route 154.
The Norwalk River Railroad Bridge is a swing bridge built in 1896 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It currently carries Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad trains over the Norwalk River.
Dock Bridge is a pair of vertical lift bridges crossing the Passaic River at Newark, Essex County and Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, used exclusively for railroad traffic. It is the seventh crossing from the river's mouth at Newark Bay and is 5.0 miles (8.0 km) upstream from it. Also known as the Amtrak Dock Vertical Lift, it carries Amtrak, NJ Transit, and PATH trains. It is listed on the state and federal registers of historic places.
The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is also referred to as Pequonnock River Bridge, PECK Bridge, and Undergrade Bridge 55.90. Currently the bridge is part of the Northeast Corridor line, carrying rail traffic of Amtrak and Metro-North, as well as freight trains operated by the Providence & Worcester Railroad.
The Fairview Lift Bridge, also known as Great Northern Railway Bridge 3.2, was built in 1913. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It was built by Gerrick & Gerrick of Steele, North Dakota to cross the Yellowstone River. It is one of two almost identical bridges the Montana Eastern Railway built within ten miles of each other which cross different rivers in different states. Its near twin is the Snowden Bridge which crosses the Missouri River in Montana. It is rumored that the body of a lynched railworker and criminal, J.C. Collins, is inside the one of the concrete abutments of the bridge.
Hardy Bridge is a Warren through truss, three-span, two-lane bridge in the western United States. It crosses the Missouri River and is located at milepost 6 on Old U.S. Route 91, about fourteen miles (23 km) southwest of Cascade, Montana, which is southwest of Great Falls.
The Middle Fork of the Little Red River Bridge, also known as the Shirley Railroad Bridge, is a historic bridge in Shirley, Arkansas. It is a single-span iron Baltimore through truss, with a main span 153 feet (47 m) long, and steel beam approach spans giving it a total length of 339 feet (103 m). The main span rests on large concrete piers set in the river. The bridge was built in 1908 for the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, and carried the railroad until 1949. In 1978 the tracks were covered by a concrete deck, and the bridge was converted to single-lane vehicular road use, carrying County Road 125.
Fort Benton Bridge spans the Missouri River at the town of Fort Benton, Montana. It was built in 1888. It has also been known as Old Bridge and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Nohly is an unincorporated place in Richland County, Montana on the Missouri River and on a BNSF Railway line (originally the Great Northern Railway. The Library of Congress holds a collection of photographs of a vertical lift bridge in Nohly that spans the Missouri River, variously called the Snowden Bridge, Nohly Bridge, and Great Northern Railroad Bridge, built in 1913 for the Great Northern with subsequent construction work in 1925.
