
California's Bridges: Benicia-Martinez Bridges across the Carquinez Straits (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
March 2011 (36.380 deg., 6.605 deg.) Sidi M'Cid Bridge One last photo of the Sidi M'Cid Bridge. I wonder what Sidi M'Cid means? Perhaps it's someone's name? Hadj did a good job of taking these photos. The bridge is sharply focused (you can see people walking and details of the rail) while the background is suffused in a soft light. Eric Sakowski's website has a lot of additional photos and more information about this bridge. |
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March 2011 (36.380 deg., 6.605 deg.) Sidi M'Cid Bridge |
March 2011 (36.380 deg., 6.605 deg.) Sidi M'Cid Bridge
Algeria's Bridges: Sidi M'Cid Bridge across the Rhumel River in Constantine (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |
March 2011 (-27.470 deg., 153.013 deg.) The Go Between Bridge The Go Between Bridge is the last bridge that I photographed in Australia. There is a nice cable-stayed bridge at the next bend in the river (the Eleanor Schonell Bridge) but the ferry turned around before I got to see it. The Go Between Bridge is another balanced cantilever arch bridge, the fourth such bridge that we looked at across the Brisbane River. I guess these bridges are the perfect choice for crossing an approximately 800 ft wide river. It was completed in 2010 and was named after a Brisbane pop-music group after a 'name-the bridge' Internet contest. There are some nice construction photos on the Wikipedia website, that show the bridge before the center span was placed. It looks like the bridge was segmentally constructed. It has two box girders and is a toll bridge carrying two vehicular lanes, a bicycle lane, and a covered pedestrian lane. It was designed by Hyder Consulting and checked by Ove Arup who seems to have a strong foothold in Australia. We'll take a closer look at this bridge tomorrow. |
March 2011 (-27.469 deg., 153.016 deg.) William Jolly Bridge Taking the Brisbane River Ferry under the William Jolly Bridge. Note the ornamented floor beams supporting the girders. The bridge was constructed (for $840,000) from 1930 to 1932 by Manuel Richard Hornibrook who later built the Sydney Opera House. In 1986 Hornibrook's company merged with a company started by Bert Baulderstone and then it was quickly eaten up by even bigger companies. There's an informative website maintained by Baulderstone with details of the construction of the William Jolly Bridge. Apparently the two river caissons were set on the river bottom, airlocks were set on the top, and the caissons were dug down from the inside until they reached bedrock. I still don't understand how they encased this steel structure in concrete. Was the concrete sprayed on? We're forms used? |
March 2011 (-27.469 deg., 153.016 deg.) William Jolly Bridge
Australia's Bridges: The William Jolly Bridge across the Brisbane River in Queensland (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |
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March 2011 (-27.469 deg., 153.018 deg.) Kurilpa Bridge The Kurilpa Bridge is 1540 ft long and 20 ft wide. It was completed in October of 2009 at a cost of 63 million dollars (or about $2000 per square foot). The bridge includes a canopy, solar cells, viewing and rest areas, and a nighttime lightshow. Ian Ainsworth of Arup writes: "The structural design achieves the unusual appearance of a seemingly random array of tensegrity elements” That reminds me of the Bird's Nest (National) Stadium in Beijing which appears to be randomly wrapped in steel, but was actually carefully designed and analyzed. The Kurilpa Bridge is a similar kind of design that gives the appearance of randomness that actually requires a great deal of effort. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing. ![]() |