Blogwatch

I haven't done a roundup of what you could read on other blogs (if you weren't too busy reading this one) for some time, so here goes ...

As always, my favourite of the bridge blogs is Tabikappa, who seems to post a seemingly inexhaustible supply of minor suspension bridges in his native Japan. My recent favourite was a marvel of bridge-building on the cheap, and I also very much liked this example of a bridge where you sit in a basket and pull yourself across (the only UK example I can think of, in Glen Etive, is called a "bucket bridge").

Bridge Photo of the Day is currently documenting an extensive trip around the spans of Brisbane, Sydney and elsewhere in Australia, including the bizarre Kurilpa Bridge and, of course, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I'm always slightly amazed that someone is letting the author of Always Civil post close-up photos of bridges he has recently inspected, complete with shoddy defects, but it's great that they are, as the blog is a rare public representation of how bridge engineering is for most civil engineers: the day-to-day maintenance issues that pay the bills and are a world away from the fancy footbridges niche market.

I've linked several times recently to Frame and Form, a Spanish blog (with English translation) about bridge and structural design. They've recently been providing links and images for the structures shortlisted in the Footbridge 2011 Awards, but often cover other interesting topics, like tensairity bridges or the work of Thomas Heatherwick.

Tallbridgeguy has a wide-ranging interest in bridge design, and writes probably the most personal and personable blog on the subject. Recent posts are a mix of observation on the architectural and engineering worlds, thoughts (and videos) on using the Sketchup software for bridge visualisation, and a few entirely original bridge concepts (daft yet endearing).

The last blog I'll mention this time is the Bridgehunter's Chronicles, part of the movement in the US to preserve historic bridges (often metal trusses), many of which have limited legal protection and are threatened with neglect or reconstruction. The Chronicles often include lengthy, detailed reports on bridge preservation news, as well as from the author's own bridge visits (currently covering the Schleswig-Holstein area in Germany).