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Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges - Science/Technology - Nairaland

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Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Dollarjunkie: 9:57am On Jul 11, 2014


From ancient viaducts to modern-day masterpieces, architecture critic Jonathan Glancey chooses the most spectacular structures from around the globe.
Millau Viaduct

(Getty Images)

On days when clouds form in the steep Tarn Valley in the south of France, the immensely high and remarkably slender concrete pylons – one of the seven is taller than the Eiffel Tower – are all that can be seen of the breathtaking Millau Viaduct from the surrounding hillsides.. The cable-stayed bridge, opened in 2004 to the designs of the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeaux and the British architect Norman Foster has streamlined long summer road journeys between Paris, Montpellier and the Spanish border. Where once traffic snarled to a halt in Millau, it now soars high above the town and river. Although the whole point of le Viaduc de Millau is to speed traffic across the Tarn Valley, it is a good idea to stop at the official viewing point and simply stare at this supremely elegant 21st Century bridge.

Hohenzollern Bridge, Cologne

(Getty Images)

The visual marriage the lofty Cologne Cathedral’s stone engineering and the bold steel structure of the Hohenzollern Bridge is testimony to the way in which the great railway buildings of the era before World War I were the ‘cathedrals’ of the industrial age. Completed in 1911, the 409m bridge crosses the Rhine. Blown up by German engineers in March 1945 in an attempt to slow the Allied advance on Berlin, today the rebuilt bridge is the busiest on Germany’s rail network. Touchingly, its monumental steel structure – rather like the hump backs of great whales rising from the river – is adorned, along the fence between the pedestrian sidewalk and the railway tracks, with thousands of ‘love padlocks’ celebrating the relationships of many of the thousands of people who use the bridge to cross the Rhine each day. Scarred by war, the bridge has been transformed into an unexpected symbol of unity and love. Designed originally by the architect Franz Heinrich Schwechten, it was not, however, the pure engineering structure we see today: then, it was adorned with towering castle or cathedral-like gateways. Intriguingly, Schwechten who began his career designing railway stations, and then the Hohenzollern Bridge, went on to produce a number of memorable churches later in his career. Railways and religion were a marriage made in stone, steel and Cologne.

Forth Railway Bridge

(Getty Images)

The Forth Bridge is one of the wonders of the industrial age. A symbol of structural engineering at its innovative best, it appears on Scottish £20 notes and steals the scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935). Work began in 1882 to designs by John Fowler and Benjamin Baker on what was intended to be a highly visible improvement on the earlier Tay Bridge thatcollapsed in 1879 taking an express train and its passengers to a watery grave. The main body of the bridge comprises three gigantic, cage-like cantilevers rising from granite footings set 46m below in the unforgiving Firth of Forth. Completed in 1890, this was Britain’s first major steel bridge and, although it has required a full-time maintenance team to look after it, its value remains undimmed. ‘Like painting the Forth Bridge’ has long been a popular term describing a never-ending task. In 2011, however, work was completed on a £130 million ($223 million) repaint designed to last until 2050, while plans have been drawn up for a visitors’ centre offering a walk up those daunting steel cantilevers.

SiMingYi Viaduct

(John Day/Railpictures.net)

The 945km Jitong Railway through Inner Mongolia opened in 1995 at a time when the Chinese National Railways had a surplus of powerful, mainline steam locomotives built as late as 1988. Given that the Jitong Railway passed through coalfields, the decision was made to go with steam. Adventurous steam enthusiasts from around the world were amazed to find fleets of heavy freight trains working flat out over modern motorway-style concrete bridges. The best place to watch was by the Jingpeng Pass where the line twisted and climbed between desert and mountains over a sequence of bridges. The most dramatic of these was the curving SiMingYi Viaduct. I use the word “was” because although the viaduct is still very much in use, the steam locomotives that gave the Jitong Railway its special appeal went in 2005. For 10 years, though, this was a remarkable place, offering a marriage of new and old structures and technologies. The Jingpeng Pass and the SiMingYi Viaduct were adventures in every way.

Pont du Gard

(Getty Images)

In 1738, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Swiss philosopher, visited the Pont du Gard. “The echo of my footsteps under these immense vaults”, he wrote, “made me imagine that I head the strong voices of those who had built them. I felt myself lost like an insect in that immensity… and, I said to myself with a sigh, ‘Why was I not born a Roman?’” The sight of this imposing limestone aqueduct, with its three tiers of arches commanding the Gardon River between Uzes and Nimes in the south of France, is as impressive today as it was to Rousseau and has been ever since it was completed very nearly 2,000 years ago. A Unesco World Heritage site since 1985, the aqueduct was originally built to bring fresh spring water to the Roman colony of Nemausus [Nimes]. It stands 49m high and spans 275m, although it was once longer. The aqueduct fell out of use in the 6th Century, yet continued to serve as a bridge for hundreds of years. It was restored under the direction of the architect Charles Laisne between 1855 and 1858 for Napoleon III. Today, the aqueduct is one of France’s leading tourist attractions, although, a little sadly, none comes here either for the waters or to cross this heroic Roman bridge.

Trift Bridge

(Getty Images)

One of the most exciting of all rope, or simple suspension, bridges is the Trift Bridge spanning Lake Triftsee in the Bernese Oberland used by thousands of walkers each year in search of the ever-shifting glory of the great Trift Glacier. The bridge spans 170m of nothingness 100m above the lake. For the intrepid, the views of lake, mountains and glacier are their own reward. The first bridge – opened in 2004 – swayed all too much, especially with winds of up to 200km/h sweeping through the valley, and was replaced five years later by the one you step across gingerly today. Designed by the Swiss architects firm Ingenieurbüro Hans Pfaffen, it boasts a tensioned ‘parabolic underspan’ – looking like a mirror of the structure above – that keeps sudden movements in check.

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge

(Getty Images)

The River Tees interrupts the drive along the road from Middlesbrough. Here, you join a queue to make what must surely be one of the world’s most extraordinary river crossings. This is the 259m Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, carrying a gondola suspended from its high, skeletal structure that ferries up to nine cars and 200 people at a time some fifty metres above the river. It might not be fast, but it is an engineering delight and has been in service, pretty much flawlessly, since the day it opened in 1911. Designed and built by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company, Darlington, the idea had been dictated by the fact that ships needs to pass unheeded along the Tees while the cost and practicality of building a conventional bridge high enough for them to do so was considered out of the question. You can still enjoy this remarkable ride today, in a car. Or, from the banks of the Tees, you can marvel for free at its spidery structure and at the sight of that heavily laden gondola gliding slowly above the great industrial river below.

Golden Gate Bridge

(Getty Images)

This serene road bridge is, tragically, as notorious for the number of people who have jumped to their deaths from its high, slender frame as it is for its elegant engineering and its place in the heart of many Americans and fellow admirers from around the world. Like Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge has long helped to shape and even define its host city over several generations. The dark side of the 2.7km bridge’s life is especially sad given the sheer joyous nature of its design. Its famous orange paintwork, the length of its principal span, the way it looks in Californian sunsets, in winter fog or on screen, makes it one of the best loved of all the world’s bridges. Subtly modified in recent years to cope with the impact of future earthquakes, the bridge was opened in 1937, its design led by the engineer and poet Joseph Strauss who had campaigned tirelessly for the project. Strauss was teamed up with the experienced bridge engineer Leon Moisseiff, architect Irving Morrow and project engineer, Charles Alton Ellis. With its elegant suspension structure and graceful Art Deco pylons, the Golden Gate Bridge, hugely popular from the start, is at once an emotional as well as a memorable and beautiful spatial and structural experience.


Culled from: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140704-the-worlds-most-stunning-bridges
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Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Nobody: 10:04am On Jul 11, 2014
Waoh... stunning indeed
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by walexGodson(m): 10:07am On Jul 11, 2014
Nice,ilorin bridge now follow?

1 Like

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by eightsin(m): 10:12am On Jul 11, 2014
Beautiful!
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by yuncka: 10:36am On Jul 11, 2014
Onitsha bridge

Between 1964 and 1965, French construction giant, Dumez, constructed the Niger Bridge, to link Onitsha and Asaba in present-day Anambra and Delta States respectively. It cost £5 million to build. Construction of the bridge was completed in December 1965. [ 1 ]During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 - 1970, in an attempt to halt the Nigerian advance, retreating Biafran soldiers destroyed the River Niger Bridge at Onitsha, trapping the Nigerians on the other side of the river. After the war, the bridge was rehabilitated.

64 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by WIZGUY69(m): 11:22am On Jul 11, 2014
yuncka: Onitsha bridge
This guy just want me to throw-up,
onitsha ko, aba ni.....
you dn't even post lokoja bridge, third mainland bridge lagos, restoration bridge ibadan.....

6 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Handcuff: 12:07pm On Jul 11, 2014
...//./
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Nobody: 12:38pm On Jul 11, 2014
Splendid..
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by OgologoDimkpa: 1:12pm On Jul 11, 2014
Lovely masterpiece
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by ceejayluv(m): 1:13pm On Jul 11, 2014
The French viaduct was featured in an episode of Engineering connections.... A marvel of technology.
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Willgates(m): 1:13pm On Jul 11, 2014
...
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Lilimax(f): 1:14pm On Jul 11, 2014
Wonderful architectural designs...
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by VICTORCIZA(m): 1:14pm On Jul 11, 2014
WIZGUY69:
This guy just want me to throw-up,
onitsha ko, aba ni.....
you dn't even post lokoja bridge, third mainland bridge lagos, restoration bridge ibadan.....
must everything be southwest??
he posted onitsha, post your own rather than running him down.

31 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by nikkypearl(f): 1:14pm On Jul 11, 2014
Niger brigde no follow
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by mickyarams: 1:15pm On Jul 11, 2014
Ikoyi Bridge:


3rd mainland bridge:


51 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by saasala(m): 1:15pm On Jul 11, 2014
Where my third mainland brigde? I saw a report that suggests that we might be endangering our lives climbing on third mainland brigde. Read it here: www..com/facts-about-third-mainland-bridge
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by amakajoe(f): 1:16pm On Jul 11, 2014
There are many stunning canal bridges in Lagos na grin
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by PurestBoy(m): 1:19pm On Jul 11, 2014
WIZGUY69:
This guy just want me to throw-up,
onitsha ko, aba ni.....
you dn't even post lokoja bridge, third mainland bridge lagos, restoration bridge ibadan.....

Restoration bridge or gutter? Are you alright at all?

7 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by donsmall94(m): 1:20pm On Jul 11, 2014
abeg where 3rd mainland bridge...
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by tonididdy(m): 1:20pm On Jul 11, 2014
WHATSAPP, Last seen = 1 minute
ago.....
VIBER, Last seen = 3 minutes
ago....
TWITTER, Last tweet = 4 minutes
ago.....
BBM, Last message = 5 minute
ago
FACEBOOK update=6minute ago
NAIRALAND last seen= 1.30pm

The HOLY BIBLE, Last opened =
31st Dec 2012.

***God is soaking ur cane in kerosene***

43 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by englishmart(m): 1:22pm On Jul 11, 2014
I smell rats. What about river Niger bridge?
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by bercarray(m): 1:22pm On Jul 11, 2014
okay,bt y is dat it is only d oyinbos in everytn
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by osjoshua(m): 1:25pm On Jul 11, 2014
grin

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by englishmart(m): 1:26pm On Jul 11, 2014
Overrated piece of shiit
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Guykhena(m): 1:26pm On Jul 11, 2014
Golden gate bridge definitely the most stunning.
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by WIZGUY69(m): 1:26pm On Jul 11, 2014
PurestBoy:

Restoration bridge or gutter? Are you alright at all?
Quote me again....
and you will d.ie.
ewu.... did i collected your phone to post on nairaland.

2 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Forzap: 1:26pm On Jul 11, 2014
Not really spectacular undecided
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by 50calibre(m): 1:28pm On Jul 11, 2014
yuncka: Onitsha bridge

Onitsha bridge is quite stunning if we are to be honest.

2 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Funjosh(m): 1:29pm On Jul 11, 2014
Fine fine places.
Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by Nobody: 1:30pm On Jul 11, 2014
tonididdy: WHATSAPP, Last seen = 1 minute
ago.....
VIBER, Last seen = 3 minutes
ago....
TWITTER, Last tweet = 4 minutes
ago.....
BBM, Last message = 5 minute
ago
FACEBOOK update=6minute ago
NAIRALAND last seen= 1.30pm

The HOLY BIBLE, Last opened =
31st Dec 2012.

***God is soaking ur cane in Conc. H2So4***
grin grin grin grin Fixed grin grin

4 Likes

Re: Eight Of The World’s Most Stunning Bridges by AbuMikey(m): 1:30pm On Jul 11, 2014
wow

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