Types of Bridge Design

Bridges connect highways, making transportation easier. Popular wood, steel, or concrete bridge designs include suspension, arch, and girder bridges. We will learn about these bridges and their materials in this lesson.

Fremont, CA: Bridges are essential to highways and railways because they connect people and industry to places that would otherwise be inaccessible. Bridges have been built since the dawn of time, dating back to the first major civilizations.

Arch Bridge

An arch bridge is supported by abutments, which are load-bearing structures located beneath the ends of each arch in the bridge. A small bridge with only one arch would have two abutments, one at each end. A longer bridge, on the other hand, would have many abutments, one at each end of each arch.

Arch bridges date back to ancient Greece and Rome, with some old bridges still today. Stones, bricks, wood, concrete, and steel construct arch bridges. To build an arch bridge, a falsework must first be installed. Falsework is a temporary structure, usually made of wood, used to hold the bridge together while it is being built.