California’s Bay Bridge, connecting San Francisco with Oakland, is actually made up of two sections of roughly equal length which together span San Francisco Bay as part of Interstate 80. The bridge carries around 260,000 vehicles each day on two decks and has one of the longest spans in the U.S. Originally conceived during the […]
After looking at Part 1 of the photos of the Bay Bridge in construction, here is Part 2 on the bridge itself, including some interesting facts. You will find more of the bridge via bridgehunter.com by clicking here.
Construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge began with the groundbreaking ceremony on July 9, 1933. Discussion of connecting both sides of the Bay with a bridge began in the early part of the 20th century. In 1929, the California Legislature established the California Toll Bridge Authority with the responsibility of connecting the counties of […]
This is the first of two-parts on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge which took over three years to built and opened to traffic in 1936. This part looks at the best shots of the bridge when it was under construction.
Figure 1: The historic Black Canyon Arch Bridge in eastern San Diego County Hello This #seismicsaturday, we feature the Black Canyon Arch Bridge, built in 1913 Northeast of Ramona in Eastern SD County. 🌉An arch relies on its foundations to push both upward and inward. The shallower the arch, the more sideways force is needed (pic […]
On the northwestern tip of the contiguous states of America lies one of its greatest treasures, the Puget Sound, and the San Juan Islands. There is a lot of protected land out here, and many little place to explore using many different ways to explore those areas. The main town to jump off and explore […]
Our next guest column takes a look at Deception Pass, where Puget Sound flows through in Washington State. Unlike many articles here in the Chronicles, this one looks at the natural beauty itself and a guide for canoeing the area. The area has the Deception Pass Bridge, a deck truss bridge spanning the Puget Sound. It was built in 1935 by the O.R. Elwell, et. al. and has been renovated twice, the last time was in 1997. It has been listed on the National Register since 1982. For more information on the bridge, click here. Otherwise, enjoy the guest article. 🙂
The vast majority of road bridges have a single deck; a few are double decked. The 1895 Falls Bridge, across the Schuylkill River in Fairmont Park in Philadelphia is an interesting exception. It has the structure needed for two decks, but the upper deck was never built, leaving a bridge that looks curiously top-heavy. Fairmont…
The old bridge was originally built between 1905 and 1912 by Henry Flagler as part of the Overseas Railroad. The bridge was damaged during the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. In 1980, a new four-lane bridge was constructed just a few hundred yards north of the old bridge, replacing the old route. Two of the truss […]
This year is without any doubt going to be the hottest year on record. Regardless of where you are living, you have most lived through a heatwave where temperatures are 40% hotter than the normal temperatures within the past three decades. The US is in its third month of 100°F temperatures in much of the main continent sans Hawaii and Alaska. Spain and Portugal plus much of southern France are competing with the Americans. Germany just recovered from three heatwaves and awaiting it’s fourth. Forest fires have accompanied the heat. In China, much of the country has entered its unprecedented fifth month of weather extremities. If it’s not the flash floods that are washing away livelihoods, it’s the temperatures between 40 & 50°C!!!
And no matter what materials are used for bridge construction – iron, stone, steel or even concrete, no bridge is safe. As you can see in the video below, this theory was put into practice when a concrete bridge in Quanzhou, China collapsed under the stress caused by temperatures of up to 40+°C. The bridge was only 30 years old and was built solely of concrete.
It should raise alarm bells to civil engineers, environmentalists and the like. The question is what will it take for global society to finally wake up and take action instead of simply talking about it through conferences and the like? 🤔
Since April 2018, the BHC has been showcasing its weekly Pic of the Week, providing readers with the very best of the bridges in the US, Europe and elsewhere. This entry is special as we’ve reached our 200th Pic and what for an occasion than to take us to Iowa and to Linn County.
The Durow Road Bridge is a Parker through truss bridge spanning Blue Creek between Center Point and Urbana. It has riveted connections with A-frame portal bracings and Lattice strut bracings. The structure is located near Interstate 380. The bridge was built in the early 1920s yet the truss span was relocated here on Durow Road at the junction with Blue Creek Road in 1949, where it has been in service ever since. With the exception of red paint which was placed on the bridge prior to my visit in 2011, the bridge has been in tip-top shape ever since. Unique about this bridge is its adjacent farmstead, as you can see in the picture above. The road and bridge were named after the Durow family, whose farm has been located at the junction for over 120 years. Fellow pontist Quinn Phelan had a chance to interview the family before we visited the bridge in August 2011 and learned that the family had seen quite a few chances to the infrastructral landscape. The truss bridge was put into place to replace a wooden trestle span which had fallen into disarray because of age. It had been built at the turn of the century.
Given its remote and quiet location, the bridge will remain in place for generations to come, as long as the bridge is maintained properly and the weight limit is taken into account. While Linn County has one of the highest number of historic bridges in the state, officials do not have any issues with fixing the bridges and keeping them in tact and aesthetically attractive. With this bridge, it is a perfect photo opportunity no matter how you photograph it, and of course when. You can find more photos of the 160-foot bridge here.
June 28, 2015 An apostrophe-shaped, cantilevered swing bridge built for pedestrians and bicyclists only was officially opened in the port city and unitary authority of Kingston upon Hull (also known simply as Hull) in northeastern England. This bridge spans the local harbor, which connects with the River Humber, and serves as a link between Scale […]
This is a blog about my project of visiting every bridge over the Genesee River and what I learned about the history, structure, and natural surroundings of each bridge.
The Bridgehunter's Chronicles 