Can You Top My List of the World's Ten Greatest Bridges?
A friend told me he watched a TV show about the top 10 bridges. I don’t remember the name of the show, or which bridges were on the list, or how they were picked. But when he described the list, overall it seemed to me that they got it all wrong. So I came up with my own list.
10: Yaquina Bay Bridge (Newport Oregon)
The coast highway in Oregon has a series of terrific bridges. This one is my favorite. The beautifully proportioned approach arches rise and seen to leap out of the bridge deck for the main span.
9: Pont Du Gard (France)
One of the largest Roman Aqueducts, it’s a bridge that’s lasted for centuries.
8: Brooklyn Bridge (New York City)
Still one of the great bridges and relevant a century after it was built.
7: Ganter Bridge (Switzerland)
This is a quirky bridge in a spectacular setting. The Swiss engineers basically invented their own bridge form by embedding the cables in concrete, allowing for a dramatic suspended curved section at one of the approaches.
6: Tatara Bridge (Japan)
It’s one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, considering its dramatic setting and slender design.
5: New River Gorge Bridge (West Virginia)
This bridge shows you just about as well as any in the world what it means to span using an arch.
4: Great Belt Bridge (Denmark)
One of the most slender suspension bridges, with a unique, sculptured anchorage design.
It’s one of the world’s most beautiful bridges. If you had to pick one structure to serve as an archetype for “bridge”, this could be it. The bridge website features fabulous Golden Gate merchandise (http://goldengatebridge.org/).
2: Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (Japan)
The world’s longest span.
1: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (New York City)
My favorite.
And honorable mention goes to: The Forth Rail Bridge (Scotland)
Built in reaction to the Firth of Tay Bridge disaster, this design took no chances, and no prisoners. It’s a hulking, graceless structure that is so ugly it is magnificent.
TwitterAre you nuts?! How could you leave out the Mackinac Bridge?<br/><a href="http://www.mackinacbridge.org/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.mackinacbridge.org/</a>
July 9, 2009
Are you nuts?! How could you leave out the Mackinac Bridge?
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/
Brian, <br/><br/>Great post, but....<br/><br/>...there's another masterpiece I know you know about in New York City, the George Washington Bridge, whose towers luckily were left unclad....
July 9, 2009
Brian,
Great post, but....
...there's another masterpiece I know you know about in New York City, the George Washington Bridge, whose towers luckily were left unclad. Years of riding over it have only increased my appreciation of Amman's design.
I wonder if other readers or engineers should rate bridges separately based on the user experience over time...
Great post, but....
...there's another masterpiece I know you know about in New York City, the George Washington Bridge, whose towers luckily were left unclad. Years of riding over it have only increased my appreciation of Amman's design.
I wonder if other readers or engineers should rate bridges separately based on the user experience over time...
As a Floridian I know I'm biased, but you can't beat a sunset view from the Seven Mile Bridge.<br/><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Bridge" rel='nofollow'>http://en.wiki...
July 9, 2009
As a Floridian I know I'm biased, but you can't beat a sunset view from the Seven Mile Bridge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Bridge
Holly FLD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Bridge
Holly FLD
No more beautiful bridge in the world than the Salginatobel, built near Schiers Switzerland by the brilliant Robert Maillart in 1930. This narrow one-lane concrete arch bridge leaps acr...
July 9, 2009
No more beautiful bridge in the world than the Salginatobel, built near Schiers Switzerland by the brilliant Robert Maillart in 1930. This narrow one-lane concrete arch bridge leaps across a 90 m span 80 m above the Salgina river. It was recognized as an international Civil Engineering historic landmark in 1991. The first time I saw it - it nearly knocked me off my feet. And I have watched others view it for the first time with the same astonishment.
what about the Milau Viaduct in France? Tallest bridge piers and very good looking.
July 9, 2009
what about the Milau Viaduct in France? Tallest bridge piers and very good looking.
You should check out the bridges of your northern neighbors, you neglected to mention the Confederation Bridge. The longest in the world crossing ice covered water (8 miles). It's a mar...
July 10, 2009
You should check out the bridges of your northern neighbors, you neglected to mention the Confederation Bridge. The longest in the world crossing ice covered water (8 miles). It's a marvel of engineering and an amazing structure.
http://www.confederationbridge.com/en/photo_gallery.php
http://www.confederationbridge.com/en/photo_gallery.php
Thanks for everyone's comments -they are excellent.<br/>I often refer to the Confederation Bridge in my bridge class, particularly for the issue of design for ice. In terms of the desi...
July 10, 2009
Thanks for everyone's comments -they are excellent.
I often refer to the Confederation Bridge in my bridge class, particularly for the issue of design for ice. In terms of the design, that was perhaps the most challenging of many challenging issues for that amazing bridge.
The Milau Viaduct is astonishing, but I wish it were a series of deck arches.
The commenter is right that the Salginatobel Bridge definitely needs to be considered on the top 10 list. It is a culmination of Maillart's work and a trend setter in many ways. It also benefits from its dramatic mountain /valley setting.
If I was going to choose between the George Washington and the Verrazano (and I did), I would pick the Verrazano. Amman was chief engineer for both. I am a little bit biased here- my father took me to the opening of the Verrazano Bridge when I was 4.
Pittsburgh: I stayed downtown for the first time last November- those bridges are great! The best of the best: Smithfield Street Bridge, an historic, functioning lenticular truss.
The Mackinac Bridge is one of my favorites. In one way I think the design is similar to the Forth Rail Bridge, in terms of reaction to an earlier bridge failure. It was built not long after the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and it uses a very deep stiffening truss.
-Brian Brenner
I often refer to the Confederation Bridge in my bridge class, particularly for the issue of design for ice. In terms of the design, that was perhaps the most challenging of many challenging issues for that amazing bridge.
The Milau Viaduct is astonishing, but I wish it were a series of deck arches.
The commenter is right that the Salginatobel Bridge definitely needs to be considered on the top 10 list. It is a culmination of Maillart's work and a trend setter in many ways. It also benefits from its dramatic mountain /valley setting.
If I was going to choose between the George Washington and the Verrazano (and I did), I would pick the Verrazano. Amman was chief engineer for both. I am a little bit biased here- my father took me to the opening of the Verrazano Bridge when I was 4.
Pittsburgh: I stayed downtown for the first time last November- those bridges are great! The best of the best: Smithfield Street Bridge, an historic, functioning lenticular truss.
The Mackinac Bridge is one of my favorites. In one way I think the design is similar to the Forth Rail Bridge, in terms of reaction to an earlier bridge failure. It was built not long after the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and it uses a very deep stiffening truss.
-Brian Brenner
Never been to the Southern Hemisphere? The Sydney Harbour Bridge should be my pick.
July 11, 2009
Never been to the Southern Hemisphere? The Sydney Harbour Bridge should be my pick.
bltimore bay bridge tunnell & 7 mile bridge in the keys
July 11, 2009
bltimore bay bridge tunnell & 7 mile bridge in the keys
Great list Brian. I agree that the Forth Rail Bridge is the architectural equivalent to a Pug.<br/><br/>Just a quick plug for the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Like many of your fav...
July 13, 2009
Great list Brian. I agree that the Forth Rail Bridge is the architectural equivalent to a Pug.
Just a quick plug for the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Like many of your favorites, the key to it's beauty is how well the design integrates into the overall landscape.
Just a quick plug for the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Like many of your favorites, the key to it's beauty is how well the design integrates into the overall landscape.
Here's to the memory of the late Dr. David B. Steinman, the New York City 'Home Grown Boy' who got ribbed by his friends as a kid who delivered newspapers in the shadow of the Brooklyn ...
July 13, 2009
Here's to the memory of the late Dr. David B. Steinman, the New York City 'Home Grown Boy' who got ribbed by his friends as a kid who delivered newspapers in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge when he told them that someday HE would build great bridges! Never really given his fair share of the kudos, he did in fact, go on to design the famous Henry Hudson Bridge over the Harlem River while still a college student. Remarkable for its time and beautiful as well, it stands today as an "arc of triumph' to a determined 'poor city kid' with drive and imagination. After being 'seconded' several times by his professional rival Othmar Ammann, Mr. Steinman finally got the chance to 'show his stuff' with the completion of the Mackinaw' Straits Bridge.
Utilizing the latest suspension bridge technology of the time (some of which he developed himself through the post-Tacoma shakeup) the Mackinaw Bridge still boasts some of the longest total suspended roadway (center plus side spans) in the country. This bridge was built despite difficult sub-surface and weather conditions. Now, as riveted lacing bars on stiffening trusses give way to welded steel and post- tensioned concrete trapezoidal boxes, we step back and just wonder what our Engineering Forefathers would say upon viewing these beautiful masterpieces of construction. I can just imagine John A. Roebling observing a modern Cable Stayed Suspension Bridge, and recalling the same principal He used on the Brooklyn Bridge over 124 years ago exclaiming......"SO! THE MORE THINGS CHANGE.....THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME.....YA?"
May God Bless their souls!
Bobby Bridgeman
Babylon, New York
Utilizing the latest suspension bridge technology of the time (some of which he developed himself through the post-Tacoma shakeup) the Mackinaw Bridge still boasts some of the longest total suspended roadway (center plus side spans) in the country. This bridge was built despite difficult sub-surface and weather conditions. Now, as riveted lacing bars on stiffening trusses give way to welded steel and post- tensioned concrete trapezoidal boxes, we step back and just wonder what our Engineering Forefathers would say upon viewing these beautiful masterpieces of construction. I can just imagine John A. Roebling observing a modern Cable Stayed Suspension Bridge, and recalling the same principal He used on the Brooklyn Bridge over 124 years ago exclaiming......"SO! THE MORE THINGS CHANGE.....THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME.....YA?"
May God Bless their souls!
Bobby Bridgeman
Babylon, New York
Yes, a collection of beautiful bridges indeed...but if we are talking about engineering, magnitude, and beauty did we forget the confederation bridge up in Canada. This thing is 8 mile...
July 15, 2009
Yes, a collection of beautiful bridges indeed...but if we are talking about engineering, magnitude, and beauty did we forget the confederation bridge up in Canada. This thing is 8 miles long!
www.confederationbridge.com
www.confederationbridge.com
Brian,<br/>A great list, but a few notable exceptions from my perspective across the pond - The Millau Viaduct by Foster and Partners in France is breathtaking... and unlike his other b...
July 15, 2009
Brian,
A great list, but a few notable exceptions from my perspective across the pond - The Millau Viaduct by Foster and Partners in France is breathtaking... and unlike his other bridge it doesn't wobble. From the 19th century surely you would have to include The Clifton Suspension bridge by Isambard Kingdom Brunel - one of the greatest engineers and visionaries ever, and from the 18th Century the one that started it all off, Ironbridge in Shropshire, England from 1779,
Dan
A great list, but a few notable exceptions from my perspective across the pond - The Millau Viaduct by Foster and Partners in France is breathtaking... and unlike his other bridge it doesn't wobble. From the 19th century surely you would have to include The Clifton Suspension bridge by Isambard Kingdom Brunel - one of the greatest engineers and visionaries ever, and from the 18th Century the one that started it all off, Ironbridge in Shropshire, England from 1779,
Dan
Let's not forget the cable stayed bridge in Boston that was built as part of the Big Dig. You come out of a seven mile tunnel under a major city and up on to this beautiful bridge over...
July 16, 2009
Let's not forget the cable stayed bridge in Boston that was built as part of the Big Dig. You come out of a seven mile tunnel under a major city and up on to this beautiful bridge over the Charles River.
Tom C.
Apopka, FL
Tom C.
Apopka, FL
