25/04/2021

Makerere University

Department of Construction Economics and

Management, CEDAT
Construction Technology III
Roads, Highways and Bridges

Dr. Musa Manga Nsubuga

PhD Civil Engineering (Leeds, UK); MSc Eng. (1.1 Dist) (Leeds, UK); BSc. Const.(1.1 Hons) MAK;
Dip. Architecture.

BRIDGES
Development Process
and Functional
Classification

1
 25/04/2021

HTTP://WWW.BUZZLE.COM/ARTICLES/TYPES-OF-
BRIDGES.HTML

 Top 20 Most Popular Bridges in the World

Other than the above given names, here are some

more names of the most famous bridges of the
world.
 Kintai Bridge, Japan  Chengyang Bridge, China
 Chain Bridge, Hungary  Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japan
 Ponte Vecchio, Italy  Alcántara Bridge, Spain
 Pont des Arts, France  Millau Bridge, France
 Bosphorus Bridge, Turkey  Chapel Bridge, Switzerland
 Charles Bridge, Czech Republic  Galata Bridge, Turkey
 Rialto Bridge, Italy  Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong
 Jacques Cartier Bridge, Canada  Banpo Bridge, South Korea
 Stari Most, Bosnia and  Magdeburg Water Bridge,
Herzegovina Germany
 Great Belt Bridge, Denmark  Howrah Bridge, India

 Bridge is not a construction but it is a concept,

the concept of crossing over large spans of land or
huge masses of water. The idea behind a bridge is
to connect two far-off points eventually reducing
the distance between them. Apart from this
poetic aspect of ‘bridges’, there is a technical
aspect to them that classifies bridges on the basis
of the techniques of their construction

2
 25/04/2021

 Beam Bridge: A beam bridge was derived from the log

bridge. It is built from shallow steel beams, box girders
and concrete. Highway overpasses, flyovers or
walkways are often beam bridges. A horizontal beam
supported at its ends comprises the structure of a beam
bridge. The construction of a beam bridge is the
simplest of all the types of bridges.

 Truss Bridge: A truss bridge is built by connecting

straight elements with the help of pin joints. Owing to
the abundance of wood in the United States, truss
bridges of the olden times used timbers for compression
and iron rods for bearing tension. Truss bridges came
to be commonly constructed from the 1870s to the
1930s. Deck truss railroad bridge that extends over the
Erie Canal is one of the many famous truss bridges.

3
 25/04/2021

 Arch Bridge: Going by its name, it is arch-shaped

and has supports at both its ends. The weight of an
arch-shaped bridge is forced into the supports at either
end. The Mycenaean Arkadiko Bridge in Greece of
1300 BC is the oldest existing arch-shaped bridge.
Etruscans and the ancient Greeks were aware of
arches since long. But the Romans were foremost in
discovering the use of arches in the construction of
bridges. Arch bridges have now evolved into
compression arch suspended-deck bridge enabling the
use of light and strongly tensile materials in their
construction.

 Suspension Bridge: A bridge falling under this

category is suspended from cables. The suspension
cables are anchored at each end of the bridge. The load
that the bridge bears converts into the tension in the
cables. These cables stretch beyond the pillars up to
the dock-level supports further to the anchors in the
ground. The Golden Gate Bridge of USA, Tsing Ma
Bridge of China and the Humber Bridge of England
are some of the famous suspension bridges.

4
 25/04/2021

 Cable-stayed Bridge: Structured similar to the

suspension bridges, the difference lies in the amount of
cable used. Less cable is required and consequently,
the towers holding the cables are shorter. Two
variants of cable-stayed bridges exist. In the harp
design, cables are attached to multiple points of the
tower thus making them parallel. In the fan variant of
design, all the cables connect to the tower or pass over
it. Cable Bridge boasts of being the first cable-stayed
bridge of USA. Centennial Bridge is another well-
known cable-stayed bridge.

 Cantilever bridge: Cantilevers are the structures

that project along the X-axis in space. They are
supported only on one end. Bridges intended to carry
lesser traffic may use simple beams while those aimed
at handling larger traffic make use of trusses or box
girders. The 1800 feet Quebec Bridge of Canada and
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that is 1400
feet long are some examples of the cantilever bridges.

5
 25/04/2021

 Truss Bridge Types

Truss is a structure composed of triangular units which

consists of straight beams connected at the joints called
nodes. The application of this principle and their
improvisation further led to the invention and design of
various types of truss bridges around the world. These
are some truss bridge types with examples:

Howe Truss Bridge

This is named after its inventor William Howe, and was designed for the use of
timber as diagonal compressions and iron as vertical tensions. Howe truss was later
improvised to use steel for its construction and became a forerunner of iron bridges.
These truss bridge types are popular as railroad bridges, and a well preserved
example is the Comstock Bridge over the Salmon river, Colchester.

Allan Truss Bridge

This was designed by Percy Allan, hence it was named as Allan Truss. Hampden
Bridge in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, is one of the most famous
bridges and an example of Allan Truss Bridge. It is the first of this type and
constructed with wood and ironbark for strength. This is the simplest among the
other truss bridges, economical due to the use of less material and easier to repair.

Truss Arch Bridge

This type of truss bridge combines the design of truss and arch bridges, in which
the trusses are fitted within the arch. A famous example of this type is the Iron
Bridge across the river Severn, Shropshire, England.

6
 25/04/2021

Bollman Truss Bridge

Named after its inventor Wendell Bollman, this type of truss bridge is built only using metals,
mostly wrought iron and cast iron. Most of the railroad bridges around the world are built by
adopting this design due to the ease of assembly and its durability. Though common after its
invention, only one bridge of this type is available today. The oldest and most historic, the
Bollman Truss Rail Road Bridge in Savage, Maryland, is an example of revolutionary truss
bridge design in engineering history.

Pratt Truss Bridge

It is exactly the opposite of Howe truss bridge in structure. Here, the diagonals are in tension
and the vertical elements are under compression, both sloping towards the center in a V-shape.
Earlier Pratt truss bridges were made of timber and iron truss, but later it was made of iron
only. It has many variations, due to the modifications made on this design, to make it lighter,
but was originally designed by Thomas and Celeb Pratt. An example of these truss bridge types
is the Schell Bridge in Northfield, Massachusetts.

Bowstring Arch Truce Bridge

The father of tied arch bridge is considered to be Squire Whipple. This involves
complicated engineering among the various truss bridge types, where the tension of
the top chord is supported by the bottom chord, rather than being supported by the
ground foundation. Due to this quality, tied arch bridges are usually built in areas
of unstable soil. An example of this type is the Torikai Big Bridge over the Yado
river, Osaka, Japan.

Cantilever Bridge
Cantilever bridges are named after its use of cantilevers and involve one of
the most complex designs among different truss bridges. For supporting
heavy load, cantilever bridges either use steel trusses or concrete box
girders. For long bridges, steel truss cantilevers are used, which gives it
strength and can be easily constructed. The Quebec Bridge in Quebec,
Canada, is not only listed as one of the famous bridges of the world, but is
also the longest cantilever bridge around.

Bailey Bridge
This type of truss bridge was originally designed by Donald Bailey for use
by military engineering units. These are portable bridges and are small
enough for easy transportation, handling, installation and reuse. They are
modular bridges, and unlike previous portable bridges used by the
military, these do not require complicated equipments while assembling,
and are very cost-effective.

7
 25/04/2021

Comstock Bridge
 Over Salmon River north of Route 16
 Colchester-East Hampton
 Covered timber truss
 Length: 2 spans, 110' overall, 80‘ Maximum
span length
 Built in 1873

The Howe Truss Bridge (designed

by William Howe ) was patented in
1840. The advantages of the Howe
Truss Bridge to the railroad companies
of the era were that it was easy to
prefabricate offsite and to ship by rail.

8
 25/04/2021

Truss Arch
Bridge

Bollman
Truss
Bridge

9
 25/04/2021

Pratt Truss Bridge

Bowstring
Arch Truss
Bridge

10
 25/04/2021

Cantilever Bridge

Bailey Bridge

11