Bridges of the World

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This beautiful arched bridge in Lake Austin was a private build by Miro Rivera Architects and is used to connect the client's main house to the smaller guest house on the other side of the water. The idea was to make the bridge seem as natural as possible within its surroundings and to do this they made the decking and reed-like hand rails as imperfect as possible. The result is a bridge that looks extremely fragile but definitely worth the risk.

 

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Opened in May of this year, the Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge is a stunning x-shaped cable-stayed bridge that crosses the Pinheiros River in Sao Paulo . It's design is unique in that the 2 curved decks of the bridge cross each other through its x-shaped supporting tower, an illuminated structure that stands 450ft tall and has attached to it 144 steel cables.

 

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The original Kintai Bridge was built in 1673 and didn't stand very long until it was damaged due to flooding. It was then rebuilt and survived for more than 200 years until a typhoon battered it to death in 1950. The bridge that stands now over the Nishiki River is the 3rd build and looks magnificent, it's 5 wooden arches displaying an incredible amount of detail and craftmanship. Interesting fact: no nails or bolts have been used to build the arches, only clamps and wires.

 

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The JK Bridge in Brasilia is a lesson in elegant bridge design. The 3 huge arches diagonally hopping over the deck of the bridge give the structure an amazing visual fluidity and make the whole 1.2km bridge look effortlessly cool. Since being built the bridge has won awards for its design but is still massively underappreciated on a wider scale.

 

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Thomas Heatherwick's award-winning rolling bridge is an ingenious addition to the grand union canal system in london and is unique in its design. Unlike regular movable canal bridges, the rolling bridge curls up on itself to form an octagon by way of hydraulics. It's an amazing sight and a reminder that a fresh perspective can produce great, innovative results, even when dealing with a structure as common as a bridge.

 

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Beipanjiang River Railroad Bridge in Guizhou is an enormous railway bridge that was built as part of the much larger 'Guizhou-Shuibai Railway Project'. Connecting 2 mountains over a deep ravine, at its highest point the bridge's deck sits 918ft above the ground (to compare, at its highest point the Millau viaduct's deck clears the river underneath by 890ft). The bridge has succeeded in connecting 2 of the country's poorest areas.

 

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'Henderson Waves' is Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge and can be found at the southern ridges, a beautiful 9km stretch of gardens and parks which has frequently drawn comparisons to New York 's Central Park . The bridge itself is absolutely stunning. The deck is made from thousands of Balau wood slats, perfectly cut and arranged, and along the length of the deck a huge snaking, undulating shell cleverly forms sheltered seating areas on every upward curve.

 

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Technically, this is a bridge: it's a structure which spans a gorge. The only difference is, the bridge can't be used by humans due to the fact that its purpose is to support 2 pipelines - 1 gas, 1 oil - across the extremely high gap in Papua New Guinea. So high in fact that if this were to be officially recognized as a bridge it would rocket to the top of the 'world's highest bridge-span' list at an impressive height of 1,290ft. By comparison, the current highest bridge span belongs to the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, hanging a mere 1,053ft. above ground level, while Manhattan's Chrysler Building measures 1,047ft.

 

[Turok]

in Hongkong,is also a very imposant bride,from the new build ariports,10 years ago on the ocean,goes a doulbe bridge,direct to hongkong mainland!

the steel iron what the used for the bilding,is many times the way earth moon,and back!
bigest problem,was the caculate the satic,because,of storng huricans in this region!

but the world famous bride,the golden gate in san franciso we forget here.)

in tv i see a report,that the make now i big big Net,under the bridge,because,many people,make suocide every year,and jump out...

 

[rolfw]

Certainly some spectacular bridges there Dig, here's one of my favourites, the Millau Viaduct, France, spanning the River Tarn.

It was designed by structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and architect Norman Foster.One of the summit of this bridge is at a height of 343 meters)1125 ft) which makes it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world.
The Millau Viaduct consists of an eight-span steel roadway supported by seven concrete pylons. The roadway weighs 36,000 tons and is 2,460 m (8,100 ft) long, measuring 32 m (100 ft) wide by 4.2 m (14 ft) deep, making it the world’s longest cable-stayed deck. The six central spans each measure 342 m (1,120 ft) with the two outer spans measuring 204 m (670 ft). The roadway has a slope of 3% descending from south to north, and curves in a plane section with a 20 km (12 mi) radius to give drivers better visibility. It carries two lanes of traffic and one safety lane in each direction.

 

[Turok]

most bridges esasaly in easteren europe are not secure,in tv i saw a report,that in protugal,i bridge,has been colapsed,during a bus was driving over it,the goverment no it but does nothing,the same happens,also last year in usa,that complete bridge colapsted

because,the securtiy standarts,and the inspection are to low!

in swticherland,every bridge,has special transmiter installed,sending,there information of the status of every bridge in the country,to a central point,when something is wrong broken or instable,automaticly a alarm bells rings,and the ingeneurs,can fix the problem imidiatly!

 

[trigger]

Nice one.

Particularly liked the octagonal fold up one. Simple in a way but very clever nonetheless.

Its a far cry from me putting 15 or so bolts together for a dish and some of the great structures on here.

Thanks