cantilever bridge

cantilever bridge, bridge that uses projecting beams (called cantilevers)—each of which is supported only at one end—to form or underpin the main span.

Form and mechanics

A cantilever bridge is generally made with three spans, of which the outer spans are cantilevered—anchored at opposite ends to the opposite banks of a declivity to be crossed, such as a river valley, over which the free ends of the spans extend toward each other. The central span rests on the cantilevered outer spans.

A cantilever bridge may carry vertical loads like a simply supported beam bridge. As the beams of the main span bend under such loads, the span undergoes horizontal compression on the top and horizontal tension on the bottom. The main span carries these forces to the outer spans, which carry them by compression vertically to the outer spans’ foundations. Alternatively, the main span may carry vertical loads like a single-span truss bridge—that is, by tension forces in the lower chords (horizontal members) and compression in the upper chords and either tension or compression in the truss’s vertical and diagonal members. The cantilever trusses then carry their loads by tension in their upper chords and compression in their lower ones. Each cantilever truss may be supported by a tower, whose interior carries the compression to its foundation while its exterior carries the tension to the outer span’s far foundations.

Discover how ordinary objects work, and expand your understanding of the familiar.

SIGN UP

" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">

Thank you for signing up!"

Back to homepage

By clicking "Sign Up", you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Britannica Quiz

Bridge Quiz

Cantilever bridges generally carry heavy loads over water, so their construction begins with the sinking of caissons and the erection of towers and anchorages. Caissons—large boxes or cylinders made of wood, metal, or concrete—are sunk into the bed of the waterway and filled with concrete to form the foundations of the bridge. For steel cantilever bridges, the steel frame is then built out from the towers atop the caissons toward the centre and the abutments. When a relatively short central span is required, it is usually floated out and raised into place. The deck is added last.

Wooden cantilever bridges were popular in Asia for centuries. The basic design used piles driven into the bed of a waterway and old boats filled with stones sunk between them to make cofferdam-like foundations. When the highest of the stone-filled boats reached above the low-water level, layers of logs were crisscrossed in such a way that, as they rose, they jutted farther and farther out toward the adjacent piers. At the top the Y-shaped cantilevering piers were joined by long tree trunks. By crisscrossing the logs, the builders allowed water to pass through the piers, offering less resistance to floods than with a solid design. In this respect, these designs presaged some of the advantages of the early iron bridges.

Examples

The Hassfurt Bridge (completed 1867) over the Main River in Germany is usually recognized as the first modern cantilever bridge. Designed by Heinrich Gerber, the bridge spanned 38 metres (125 feet); it was destroyed in World War II.

The iconic Forth Bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scotland, a cantilever truss bridge designed by Benjamin Baker, was the world’s longest bridge upon its completion in 1890. The steel structure has two cantilevered spans, each measuring 518 metres (1,710 feet) long and rising 103 metres (342 feet) above the masonry piers, and bears a deck 46 metres (150 feet) above high water. Although from an approaching standpoint the bridge appears dense and massive, in profile it exhibits a surprising lightness. Baker designed the bridge with an artist’s temperament, though nothing was added for aesthetic appearance that did not have a structural function. For more than a century the bridge has carried a railway, and indeed it was one of the last great bridges built for that purpose in the 19th century.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

When it opened in 1909, the Queensboro Bridge from Manhattan to Queens in New York City had the two longest steel cantilever spans in the world, stretching 360 metres (1,182 feet) from Manhattan to Blackwell’s Island and 300 metres (984 feet) from Blackwell’s Island to Queens. Less than a decade later the bridge was surpassed in length by the Quebec Bridge.

The Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River at Quebec City, Quebec, is one of the longest cantilever bridges in the world, spanning 987 metres (3,238 feet). Finally completed in 1917 after a collapse in 1907 killed 75 workers, the bridge accommodates three highway lanes, one rail line, and a pedestrian walkway. Also spanning the St. Lawrence River is Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge (completed 1930), a steel truss cantilever bridge that accommodates a five-lane highway.

At 502 metres (1,673 feet) long, Japan’s Minato Bridge (completed 1974) is one of the world’s longest-spanning cantilever truss bridges. It links the cities of Ōsaka and Amagasaki.