Bridges & Engineering Trivia

Every bridge is a solution to the same problem: get a load safely across a gap. The different bridge types are really different answers about where to send the forces — into compression, into tension, or into a bit of both.

This quiz covers the main structural types and a few of the famous bridges that made them recognizable.

Where the Forces Go

The name of a bridge type usually tells you how it carries weight.

• An arch pushes its load outward and down into the ground as compression, which is why the Romans used it so heavily.
• A truss is built from triangles because a triangle is the only shape that will not distort without changing the length of a side.
• A suspension bridge hangs its deck from cables in tension, which is how the longest spans in the world are built.
• A cantilever is a beam supported at only one end, reaching out over the gap.

Famous Spans

A few landmark bridges are worth knowing by name.

• The Golden Gate Bridge, opened in 1937, crosses the strait at the mouth of San Francisco Bay.
• The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, spans the East River in New York City.
• The Millau Viaduct in France is among the tallest bridges in the world.
• Roman aqueduct bridges such as the Pont du Gard were built to carry water, not traffic.