beam bridge: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	girder bridge

Photos

highway overpasses

Long view of the East Sea Bridge, also known as Donghai Bridge, curving across the water toward the horizon in the East China Sea near Shanghai, with distant support towers visible.

Diagram of a beam bridge spanning over water, with red lines along the top showing areas under tension and green lines along the supports and lower sections indicating compression forces.

A simple diagram of a beam bridge showing an orange horizontal beam supported at both ends by two vertical supports.

military engineering

Aerial view of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway near New Orleans, Louisiana, showing the long twin bridges stretching straight across blue water toward the horizon.

Aerial view of the Tianjin Grand Bridge, a long railway viaduct crossing over water and green landscape, with the city skyline visible in the distance.

Expansion joint

Illustrations of six bridge types show their structural differences: a simple beam bridge, a truss bridge with triangular supports, a cantilever bridge with projecting sections, an arch bridge, a suspension bridge with cables hanging between towers, and a cable-stayed bridge with cables radiating from towers.

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Topics

cantilever bridge continuous beam bridge clapper bridge simply supported beam bridge pontoon bridge bridge girder arch bridge suspension bridge truss bridge cable-stayed bridge movable bridge military bridge viaduct

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

The northern terminus of the Akashi Strait Bridge in Terumi ward, southern Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, west-central Japan. The bridge spans the Akashi Strait and links Awaji Island to Honshu.

Bridge Quiz