Content approved by Jerry Parker Bridges are incredible architectural creations. Bridges have been used since the early times of civilization. The oldest bridge that is still in use (that humans can date) is an arch bridge over the River Meles in Turkey. The bridge can be dated to be built sometime around 850 BC! The […]
Content approved by Jerry Parker
Bridges are incredible architectural creations. Bridges have been used since the early times of civilization. The oldest bridge that is still in use (that humans can date) is an arch bridge over the River Meles in Turkey. The bridge can be dated to be built sometime around 850 BC! The oldest bridge humans have found to exist (that is no longer usable) is the Arkadiko Bridge in Greece. The building of this bridge is dated back to 1300 BC!
Without bridges, the ease of everyday life would not be possible. Bridges allows us to travel over rivers, canyons and streams. While the idea of a bridge might seem simple, the engineering of a bridge is quite complex. Did you know there are many different types of bridges used for different purposes?
There are many different types of bridges. The specific type of bridge design depends on the location of the bridge, how the bridge will be used, the weight the bridge will bear, the age of the bridge and other factors.
Covered bridges have been an artists’ dream for years. If you look at photographs and paintings throughout history, the beautiful country-side scenes of covered bridges over babbling brooks are abundant. You can find many covered bridges in the United States, in places like Vermont, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Pennsylvania. The picture perfect New England scenery surrounding most covered bridges makes covered bridges have quite the fan following. See some covered bridge collections and read about the history of covered bridges – and other historic bridges – below!
Bridges don’t fail very often, but when they do, the end results are usually pretty disastrous. Bridges tend to fail for the same reasons: weakness and fatigue. There are exceptions though; sometimes bridges fail due in part to natural disasters or catastrophic collisions with other objects. Check out an overview of historic bridge failures below…