Bridges

[mountaingal]

Bridges - yes, they are matters of faith reason and philosophy.

They provide passage over water, valleys and roads. In miggle air they give us solid ground. They strike fear into many of us – we feel small and vulnerable above the chasm we are crossing, like it’s going to suck us off the bridge and to our certain death. They are temptations to our mortality. Sometimes it becomes necessary to “veil” the call to death – many bridges, including one in my Toronto hometown, have a veil that prevents suicidal persons from jumping off.

this is the Luminous Veil on the bridge officially called the Prince Edward Viaduct, but commonly known as the Bloor Street viaduct. The veil was completed in 2003.

The last known person to suicide from the viaduct was a man in his 30s who had finally revealed his story of being molested as a child/teen by his hockey coach. the coach was convicted, but i guess it was too late for the victim.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - the Millau Viaduct

Bridges inspire. They are used as metaphors for collective achievement. A bridge marks a town or a city’s progress. It moves us, our thoughts and dreams from one place to, hopefully, a better place.

Among the modern architectural marvels (see the other thread in F&amp;R) mentioned in Vanity Fair is the <span style="font-weight: bold">Millau viaduct.</span> This is an extremely awesome bridge. The incredible potential of the human mind is woven into and demonstrated by this structure.

the Millau Viaduct is the highest road bridge in the world. Planes fly underneath it. on cloudy days, the bridge is above the clouds. it joins Paris to Barcelona.
aerial view

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - the Millau Viaduct

the millau viaduct straddles the tarn valley. a lot of people were against it when it was being built. they said a it would be too expensive and the government would never make its money back. the route it was taking was the wrong way. it was environmentally unfriendly. it would divert people from the nearby town of Millau and lead to economic impoverishment.

yet it is a major tourist attraction.

millau viaduct with traditional bridge in foreground


a section of the millau viaduct


close up of bridge deck. people have walked sections of the bridge.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - the Magdeburg Water Bridge

most bridges are solid road surfaces that carry people - either by on foot or in a vehicle - across water, land or other roads.

this bridge, the Magdeburg Canal in Germany, is a water bridge. it is a road made of water, designed to go over a body of water. it opened in 2005.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - Gateshead Millennium Bridge

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Newcastle, England is a tilt bridge - meaning instead of separating to allow boats to pass underneath as many bridges do, the Millennium bridge just tilt over. kinda like lifting up its skirt. it's also called the &quot;winking eye&quot; bridge because of its shape and movement.



in &quot;tilt&quot; position


this neat timelapse video shows how the bridge tilts up to let boats pass:
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[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - Alamillo Bridge in Spain

this bridge looks a bit like a harp. in simplest terms, the bridge is being held up by that long arm projecting into the sky. that's it. it is at a 58 degree angle, and is technically a suspension bridge.

[DC]

Re: Bridges - Alamillo Bridge in Spain

<span style="font-style: italic">Lovely Mgee. Nice thread. And yes, bridges are certainly matters of faith reason and philosophy The millau viaduc and the tilt bridge are quite impressive. Bridges are significant-in a philosophical way.
I like poems and your title reminded of one I came across:</span>

<span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">The Bridge Builder </span></span>
<span style="font-style: italic">by Will Allen Dromgoole</span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt">An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

&quot;Old man,&quot; said a fellow pilgrim, near,
&quot;You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?&quot;

The builder lifted his old gray head:
&quot;Good friend, in the path I have come,&quot; he said,
&quot;There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.&quot;</span>

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - 3,000 yr old bridge

nice ode to selflessness, SR. i like the metaphor of transition, too.

this here's considered the oldest bridge still in use. it's said to be over 3000 years old, it would have already been an ancient bridge in the days of the Roman Empire. It's in Greece.

[Tulip]

Re: Bridges - the Millau Viaduct

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body"></div></div>

This one strikes fear in my heart. I would not completely lose it if I were a passenger, but I would not want to drive it.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - the Millau Viaduct

Tulip, according to this video:
a) the ride across the millau viaduct doesnt seem so bad, probly because the side of the road has high railings that reduce the sense of vulnerability

b) u can drive the bridge in under three minutes if u go 70mph/110kmh

c) ppl dem in dat part a di world love drive fast!

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[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - the Kawazu-Nanadaru Double Loop

In this part of a Japan, a famous hot springs spa lies at the bottom of a steep mountainside. The only way to get traffic down the side of the mountain was to build this double loop bridge. What I like about the Kawazu-Nanadaru bridge is that u have to go slow on it, which apparently forces u to start relaxing before u reach the spa below.



seen from below

[Tulip]

Re: Bridges - the Millau Viaduct

That looks a lot better close-up MGee and I could definitely manage 3 minutes or less. Looking at the bigger picture, it didn't seem like any guard rails were on the sides of it.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges in Africa

traditional African bridges are modest affairs. they tend to look like this wooden one in Zambia, mostly for foot traffic:


or this suspension footbridge in Moletis, Ethiopia

i like to think our ancestors liked being grounded, being close to the earth, liked taking the long, low road around to get around.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges - Lalibela, Ethiopia

a community of 12th century (medieval) churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia, hewn out of a rocky mountainside, is connected by a series of wooden and stone bridges. the churches are high, and in some cases, massive. there is something of a spiritual element of pilgrimage in making ones way via these bridges.

[mountaingal]

Re: Bridges in Africa

colonizers brought advanced bridge technology to the african continent. i suppose to expedite the movement of raped resources.

The Portuguese left their mark on Ethiopia, following the lead of the Roman empire in design and purpose. The Romans practically invented massive bridge projects, and built many of them in the places they conquered.

Portuguese Bridge near the Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia


Another Portuguese bridge in Ethiopia, used, as normal, for foottraffic.