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Suspension bridges

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Conquistadors from Spain came, they saw and they were astonished. They had never seen anything in Europe like the bridges of Peru. Chroniclers wrote that the Spanish soldiers stood in awe and fear before the spans of braided fiber cables suspended across deep gorges in the Andes, narrow walkways sagging and swaying and looking so frail.Yet the suspension bridges were familiar and vital links in the vast empire of the Inca, as they had been to Andean cultures for hundreds of years before the arrival of the Spanish in 1532. The people had not developed the stone arch or wheeled vehicles, but they were accomplished in the use of natural fibers for textiles, boats, sling weapons — even keeping inventories by a prewriting system of knots.

 

<www.nytimes.com...

 

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Mostar bridge (mostari)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Spans the Neretva river

1566

 

"The stone bridge of Mostar was undoubtedly one of the most
beautiful and famous achievements of the Golden Age of Turkish
architecturein the Balkans."

 

Bridge_of_Mostar.pdf

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Luoyang Bridge, China’s earliest stone beam bridge built in the seaport, spans the Luoyang River from south to north in the southern suburb of Quanzhou... Luoyang Bridge was built from 1053 and was completed in 1059... Built from light grey granite, the bridge resembles a silver dragon lying above the green water. The bridge features ship-like piers and a unique method of oyster consolidation. The ship-like piers could easily cut the rapid current in the river. Thousands of oysters were bred around the footstones and piers so that their secretions would act as kind of cement. This was the world’s first example of the use of biology in bridge building and shows the great wisdom of the ancient Chinese people.

 

<yeschinatour.com...>

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Perrine's Bridge

New York

1850

 

Perrine's Bridge is the second oldest bridge in the State of New York, after the Hyde Hall Bridge in East Springfield. Once located in the hamlet called Perrines Bridge between 1850 and 1861. It is located in the modern day town of Esopus-Rosendale, New York just a few hundred feet to the east of Interstate 87 crossing of the Wallkill River in Ulster County, New York. Originally built to aid in the movement of trade between the towns of Rifton and Rosendale, the bridge is about two hours northwest of New York city between mile markers 81 and 82 on the New York State Thruway (I-87).

 

<en.wikipedia.org...>

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Pontypridd, "ponty"

William Edwards

Wales

1756

 

"Ponty" as it's known to the locals, is famous for its old bridge, which was, when built, the longest single spanning bridge in the world. The bridge, built in 1750 by William Edwards (a self taught mason) was so long (45m / 140 feet span) that it took three attempts to get it right. The first, a wooden bridge was washed away by floods, the second, of stone, collapsed during construction because of its weight. The third design was also stone, but much lighter because it had 6 large holes in it... 3 on each side, of diameter 9, 6 and 3 feet. Edwards was paid 50 pounds to maintain it for seven years. In 1857, a three-arch bridge was built alongside to make it easier for traffic to cross the river (the old bridge was a bit too steep).

 

<www.pontytown.co.uk...>

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Alcantara Bridge over the Tagus was built by the Roman, Caius Julius Lacer, for the Emperor Trajan.

“Some of the mightiest and most impressive Roman Bridges, which fall broadly into two groups, are to be found in Spain.  On the one hand there is the long low bridge of many nearly equal arches acros a broad river valley.  Of this kind are the bridges of Salamanca, Cardova, and merida.  As a contrast there is themajestic majestic lofty bridge of few and unequal arches thrown across a wide rocky gorge (H. Shirley 21).”

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