06 November 2009

Bridges news roundup

The World’s 18 Strangest Bridges
Popular Mechanics presents the weird, the wonderful, and the wobbly. Actually, no wobbly, I just couldn't think of another "w".

Carrick-a-Rede is a bridge for all seasons
Crossing so popular it will no longer be stowed away in winter

Italians, not Texans, building signature Dallas bridge
Calatrava's Margaret Hunt Hill being assembled by visitors on allegedly dodgy visas. Texan welders not happy.

Bridgewater Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent by NORD Architecture
New Buro Happold footbridge has pretty diagrid ribbed soffit (shown right), welders kept well-employed stitching short stubby beams together. Built by Birse, but I don't know who the poor fabricator was.

New Earthquake-Proof Alloy Allows Bridges to Bend but Not Break
Nickel-titanium alloy used as ultra-expensive concrete reinforcement. The Popular Mechanics article is a little short on the technical detail, but essentially the alloy is a superelastic metal with an elastic strain limit many times that of steel, perhaps best know for its use in spectacles.

Spanning Time: Rare Images of the Brooklyn Bridge
The Tribeca Trib reviews John Manbeck's book "Historic photos of the Brooklyn Bridge" (see also The Villager for another interesting review).

Central Park development with Darlington town centre
Super-dull headline hides news of progress on the innovative new FRP Haughton Road footbridge, perhaps one of the more aesthetically-conscious composite bridges I've seen (shown left).

Support for bridge blades
Bonkers Tasmanians suggest hanging wind turbines off the Tasman Bridge.

Suppose design office: heiwa-ohashi pedestrian bridge proposal
Twin stressed-ribbon designs for peace memorial park in Hiroshima (story spotted via ABC).

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