Taking a Look at the Suspension Bridge

It perceives the crossing of the Brazos River. [In 2008, the first pieces of the “Branding the Brazos” sculptors made their debut Next to the bridge. The towering Chisholm Trail sculptures, crafted by Robert Summers, include An oversized, bronze trail boss driving longhorns on their way to crossing the Brazos.] (waco-texas.com) Use to when livestock had to be taken to market they had to rely on the ferry which was Dangerous and it took a lot of time to get the livestock across. But they built a suspension bridge. This bridge was open to the public in 1870. And it is older than the Brooklyn Bridge. [The Waco Suspension Bridge is a 475-foot structure that crosses the Brazos River in downtown Waco. At the time that it was built it was one of the longest single-span suspension bridges in the World. The bridge served vehicle traffic until 1971, at which time it became reserved for pedestrians and special events. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970

In the small town of Waco, Texas who would have thought it was once well known for the structure of a bridge, the Waco Suspension Bridge to be exact. Up until 1870, the Brazos River was just a simple river that had no special meaning to it. The land around it was empty, occasionally you would find cattlemen pushing their cattle across stream, but that was only because you could not find one bridge that spanned the eight hundred miles of river flowing through Central Texas. This caused a serious transportation issue for merchants and travelers. It became clear that a better means of crossing the river was necessary.

Suspension bridges usually experience torsional forces during very windy conditions where there are high wind speeds, this can create a twisting force causing the deck to rotate resulting in the bridge experiencing shear stress. (Bagga

Initially, suspension bridges before 1940 were made of piers, towers, wires, anchorages, and roadways. Piers were the main foundation for the suspension bridges. There usually were two of them, which were made out of cement and were entrenched in ground underneath the body of water that the bridge was spanned across. Towers were built on top of the piers to provide a means of connection for the roadways and wires. Wires were connected to the towers, roadways, and anchorages to provide tension support for the weight of the bridge. The anchorages were large cement platforms that were planted into the ground on either side of the land so that the wires could be connected to it. Lastly, the roadways were the main point of the suspension bridge. They usually were wide enough to provide four lanes of traffic and stretched from one side of the bridge to the other. This was the basic design of the suspension bridges

Rainbow Bridge contains many interesting historical features. A surveying party first found the Rainbow Bridge in 1909, the scientists were quickly able to find out how it was created. It was in fact created by “erosion of the sandstone by the flowing water”(Rainbow Bridge). The president then in May of 1910 made it a National Monument (History and Culture).

The final primary component of a suspension bridge is the deck, or the roadway upon which cars drive and pedestrians walk. The deck is built from massive pieces of steel-reinforced concrete hoisted into the air and laid into place upon the bridge. Deck pieces are connected with bolts and rivets, then suspension cables connect each section of deck to the main

There are many differences between our bridge and other bridges. One being location. Another one being that thing that was sacrificed for it. Another one being cost. Also another difference would be weight and capacity, and the size or length.

Although the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is oft considered “the most spectacular failure in bridge engineering history”, it was far from being the first unsuccessful suspension bridge. There were ten prior suspension bridges that failed due to unaccounted wind/oscillating forces. However, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed 50 years after the last bridge, and it was the most expensive and longest- more than double any previous bridge- that is the reason why its failure is so significant. The remains of this bridge now serve as “one of the world’s largest manmade

After the discovery centre the next stop was the Brilliant Suspension Bridge in Castlegar. The bridge is located just upstream of the merge of columbia and kootenay river. After exploring the bridge, Mentor. Jonny Colehill gave some history on the bridge, when it was built, why it was built and some geography of the area.

stone towers that served no other purpose than to be visually appealing. In Australia, Sir Ralph Freeman designed a two-hinged arched bridge that spanned 1,650 feet. The Sydney Harbour Bridge was constructed with high-strength silicon steel, which makes it “the heaviest steelwork of its kind.” Another type of bridge that employs the use of steel are suspension bridges. The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883 and designed by John Roebling, was the first bridge to use galvanized steel wire cables. By the beginning of the 20th Century, suspension bridges were gaining popularity. The growing population of New York City, increased demand for new bridges. Two more suspension bridges, The Williamsburg Bridge, completed in 1903, designed by L.L.

In light winds, the bridge decks would bounce vertically, as it was named. Due to this, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge quickly developed a secondary name of “Galloping Gertie”. Accounts of other (smaller) suspension bridges duplicating this type of movement had been heard of, both during and after the construction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, however these were ignored as they were considered minor. An example of this was the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, also designed by Leon Moisseiff. These vertical oscillations on the Tacoma Narrows were perceived as “structural instability” by engineers, and measures were taken to try and correct the issue.

It is shaped in a way to transfer weight to the towers and anchors with its tension (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Cables are made of high strength wires spirally bound to form a rope (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Vertical cable suspenders that are fastened to the main cables hang the actual roadway. Stiffening girders and trusses are along the side of the bridge to distribute concentrated loads and help to keep the motion of the bridge at a minimum (Troitsky, 1994, p115).

The bridge has a very well designed ‘sustainability’ concept, relying on upcycled materials to complete the bridge. These upcycled materials consist of the wood, the fishing net, the oil barrels and the plastic shielding for the barrels. These materials can be used for functional roles in the design, such as platforms, floatation, safety lines across hand rails, and so on. The bridge’s sustainability concept can be further supported by the ease of replacing materials, and not throwing them in the bin. The materials such as wood, plastic and pieces of metallic bolts and nuts can be recycled and reused for other purposed such as furniture, storage or completely recycled back into a molten form for the metallic objects.

The bridge we are modeling our design after is the Waddell “A” Truss Bridge, also known as the Linn Branch Creek Bridge in Parkville, Missouri. The structure was constructed in 1898 and designed by the engineer John Alexander Low Waddell. Historically, the bridge was used as a short-span railroad bridge until 1939 when it became exclusively used for road traffic on Missouri Hwy 4. Furthermore, in 1981 the bridge was relocated to its current location, English Landing Park, where it is used for pedestrian-related transportation purposes. Additionally, there is a second known Waddell “A” type truss bridge in the US. It is located in Shreveport, Louisiana and known as the Cross Bayou Bridge, previously used for railway purposes but now abandoned.

(Vasani, 2011) Many components when assembled together form a bridge structure. Basic components of a bridge are superstructure or Decking, Bearings, Substructure which again consists of Piers and Abutments, Wing walls and Returns, and Foundation.