by Demetria Rollins

Created on: May 18, 2008

There are many famous bridges in the United States. For starters let me tell you about the Brooklyn Bridge. This bridge was designed by John A. and Washington Roebling in 1867 and completed in 1883. The Brooklyn Bridge is 272 feet in height and 6016 feet in length. The Bridge is located at East River,Park Row, Manhattan to Adams Street, Brooklyn. This bridge is a highly recognizable icon. The bridges prototype was a similar but smaller structure over the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The Gothic towers are constructed entirely of granite and the roadway platform is hung on two inch diameter steel suspenders strung from two pairs of cables. The catenaries range sixteen inches in diameter. Each of the bridges cable is composed of 5,296 galvanized steel wires. Each of the cables is able to hold a live load of 12,000 tons.

Next there is the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge was designed by Joseph Baermann Strauss around 1930 and completed on May 27, 1937.The Golden Gate Bridge is 750 feet in height and 2742.9 meters in length. The initial plans for this bridge showed a cantilever type structure which bared little resemblance to the final design. The project evolved into the now familiar single suspension span. The Golden Gate Bridge faced 12 years of opposition from ferryboat workers. They feared for their livelihoods. The military leaders and shippers were thinking the bridge would bottle up the harbor. In the end the bridge was completed after it got the approval from six coastal counties.

The next bridge i am going to talk about is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is located in Sydney Harbour, Australia and designed by Dr. J.J.C Bradfield. He began construction of this bridge in 1925; and the bridge opened on March 19, 1932. It measures 134 meters in height and 1149 meters in length. This bridge was made of steel and contains 6 million hand driven rivets. This bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot hot sun in Sydney. This bridge is the world's largest steel arch bridge. Because this bridge is located in a beautiful harbour it has become the international symbol of Australia.

The next bridge is the Tsing Ma Bridge located in Hong Kong. The architects are unknown at this time. This bridge began its construction in May 1992 and completed in May 1997. This bridge is internationally known and a major Hong Kong landmark. The main span of this bridge is 1,377 meters in height and 206 meters tall. This is the only bridge carrying both road and railway.

In conclusion i could go on and on about famous bridges but that would probably take to much of your time so i will end here. If you travel to any of these places go ride across the bridges and see just how they are.

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