Tapan Zee Bridge Essay

In the middle of nowhere, in that vast expanse of trees, lies The Bridge. Nobody knows it as any other name. It stretches across the Dead River, just sitting there waiting for someone new to find it. At one time it was driven over constantly, a way of travel for the inhabitants who are crazy enough to live out there. But now it is just there, a giant chunk of metal, rusting away into nothing. Occasionally it is used for things like fishing, or as a

In the late 19th century, the transportation demands of Quebec and other provinces success in transportation like Montreal’s success in railways led to proposals for bridging the St. Lawrence River. Quebec Bridge has a long story behind it, a bridge that was proposed first back in 1852 but it was not complete until 1919. It collapsed two times in this duration once in 1907 killing 75 workers and second time in 1916 killing 13 workers. In this report I will emphasize on the first collapse.

In Washington, the Interstate 5 bridge, which crossed the Skagit River, collapsed last month. The damage of this accident included two cars broke and three persons injured. According to officials, the bridge fell into the river after the large truck hit a beam. The bridge had a risky condition called facture critical. The U.S has a lot of bridges; however, nearly two thousand bridges were built between the middle of 1950s and the 1970s, so those ones are obsolete bridges. In addition, back then, the government cut corners in bridge buildings to cost reduction. Although gas and diesel taxes attempted to allocate to restored the bridge, the government cloud not collect money enough to repair the bridge because people began to use efficient vehicle.

Since then, I have taken the Queensboro Bridge hundreds of times. Spanning across the East River and looking out onto the city skyline, the bridge still serves the same purpose today, as it did in 1909 when it was first opened. To most people, it looks like any other bridge, but to me, it’s like watching parts of an ecosystem work together as people bike, walk, and drive across and around it.

The I-35W Mississippi river bridge also known as Bridge 9340 officially was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge which carried the Interstate 35W across the Mississippi river connected the downtown east and Marcy-Holmes. Its construction began in the year 1964, was finally opened in 1967. It connected the northeast of Metrodome on its south end and the University of Minnesota on the North end. The bridge was the boundary of “Mississippi Mile” downtown riverfront parkland. The north foundation of the bridge was near the hydroelectric plant built in 1988. The south abutment was in an area polluted by the coal gas processing plant. There weren’t any mentions of this in the failure investigations. The bridge was a continuous truss bridge that had a total span of 1,907 ft. It was an 8-lane bridge having a width of 113.3ft. and was 115 ft. high. It was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel to 1961 AASHO (American Association Of State Highway Officials) standard specifications. The construction contract worth more than US $5.2 million at the time, went to Hurcon Inc. and Industrial Construction Company, which built the steel trusses and deck. The piers were not built in the navigation channel instead the center span of the bridge consisted of a single 456- foot steel truss over a 390-foot channel being the longest span of the bridge.

The same problem would occur every winter and political leaders thought it was time for a solution to be found. Every winter the East River would freeze over, making it difficult for the citizens of Brooklyn to get to New York City. A solution to this problem would be the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. With the backing of political boss, William Tweed the construction of the bridge would soon be underway. After 14 years of construction and much controversy the Brooklyn Bridge officially opened May 24th 1883.

Pittsburgh is called the City of Bridges because it has 446 of them. The Smithfield Street Bridge is the oldest extant bridges. It was built from 1881 to 1883. It was not the first bridge to built in that spot. The first bridge to built there was Pittsburgh first bridge, a wooden bridge designed by Lewis Wernwag. That bridge was destroyed in the Great Fire. John Roebling’s suspension bridge was built next. The bridge was destroyed a year later due to stability. Then there are the “Three Sisters” bridges. Vernon Covell and his group of engineers plus an architect by the name Stanley Roush designed and built the

The most distinguished covered bridge is the Cedar covered bridge. It was primarily formed over Cedar Creek, North of Winterset, Iowa. It was built in 1883by Benton Jones. In 1912 it was repositioned to the present location, however, still stands over the original creek. Arson struck in 2002, and after the bridge was reconstructed in 2004. The Cedar bridge was the only covered bridge that vehicles could yet pass over. Because of the reputation the bridge possessed, cameras were installed to prevent supplementary vandalism. In 2017, arson struck again and sent the notorious bridge down in flames.

The Interstate 35W bridge otherwise known as bridge 9340 is one of the busiest bridges in Minnesota (Karnowski). On average about 140,000 vehicles cross the bridge everyday (Weeks). The truss bridge was built back in the 1960s (Karnowski). It runs through downtown Minnesota across the Mississippi River. There are four lanes in each direction and it’s 1,907 feet long and 113 feet wide (Weeks).

By the late 1990’s, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) began conducting studies to find solutions to the problems of traffic and the aging of the original four-lane bridge (WSDOT, 2015). Approval for a new, wider floating bridge was obtained and, in 2011, construction of concrete pontoons for the new bridge’s foundation began. The new replacement bridge is part of a massive $4.6 billion program by Washington State (and the City of Seattle) to improve transportation infrastructure via State Route 520 on both sides of Lake Washington. After approximately five years’ time, the new floating bridge opened ceremoniously in April of 2016. The program continues through 2016 with construction activities highlighted by the safe demolition and removal of the old bridge (WSDOT,

The bridge was constructed of carbon steel, which tends to crack. Many cracks were found throughout the bridge among extensive corrosion. Upon investigation, it was found that the collapse was due to a defective eye-bar that experienced a cleavage fracture in the lower part of its head which was resulted from stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue. [26] Since the eye-bars were not designed to be redundant, failure in one eye-bar would disrupt the continuity of the suspension system. This disruption is what caused the bridge to collapse suddenly. The location of the flaw

His bridges over the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh and over the Ohio River at Cincinnati were considered remarkable achievements. Roebling began dreaming of spanning the East River between New York and Brooklyn. The Civil War put the plans on hold. And Roebling was chosen as its chief engineer. Just as work was begun on the bridge in the summer of 1869, tragedy struck. John Roebling severely injured his foot in a horrible accident as he was surveying the spot where the Brooklyn tower would be built. He died of lockjaw not long after, and his son Washington Roebling who had distinguished himself as a Union officer in the Civil War, became chief engineer of the bridge project.“The contemplated work, when constructed in accordance with my design, will not only be the greatest bridge in existence, but it will be the great engineering work of the continent and of the age. Its most conspicuous feature – the great towers – will serve as landmarks to the adjoining cities, and they will be entitled to be ranked as national monuments. As a great work of art, and a successful specimen of advanced bridge engineering, the structure will forever testify to the energy, enterprise, and wealth of that community which shall secure its erection.” “Report” to the New York Bridge Company,

Built in 1928, by the American Bridge Company, the eyebar suspension bridge was named for the color of its aluminum paint. The 681.2 meter bridge carried U.S. route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio. At its time of construction the typical family automobile was the Ford Model T, which weighed 1,500 lbs and the maximum permitted truck gross weight was 20,000 pounds. By the 1960s, the typical car weighed 4,000 lbs and the large truck limit was 60,000 lbs.

This bridge is a fine example of a town’s great and enduring past being changed, for better or for worse. The Washington Avenue Bridge was built all the way back in 1934, which was exactly 82 years ago. That is probably the reason behind its remodeling, since a bridge that old may be a little unsturdy for people to drive across. Although it took way too long to fix, we can finally say that the bridge are back in

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is perhaps the most notorious failure in the world of engineering. It collapsed on November 7, 1940 just months after its opening on July 1, 1940. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and at its time it was the third largest suspension bridge in the world with a center span of over half a mile long. The bridge was very narrow and sleek giving it a look of grace, but this design made it very flexible in the wind. Nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie," because of its undulating behavior, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge drew the attention of motorists seeking a cheap thrill. Drivers felt that they were driving on a roller coaster, as they would disappear from sight in the trough of