One of my examples is of a bridge i saw in South Africa a few years ago called Bloukrans Bridge. One of the attractions of this bridge is the bungee jumping stations at the centre of the bridge. However the reason i found it very interesting is because there is a pretty interesting story behind the bridge. The bridges designer spent a larger amount of his life designing this bridge since it was to become the highest single span arch bridge in the world. The bridge was built from both sides and was to be joined together in the middle, however when it came to fitting the final two pieces all the designers work was for naught since they overlapped by a few inches. The designer was so distraught that he jumped off his own bridge (without a bungee chord). What he didn't know is that the heat from the summer they were working in had made the concrete expand and in doing so put the measurements out. So when the concrete cooled down the pieces fitted together perfectly.
I bet the poor lad is spinning in his grave.
The bridge is 216m above the Bloukrans River, which also makes the bungee jump the highest bridge jump in the world (only second to the tower jump in Thailand). and has a central span of 272m, and the overall length is 451m
Forces Acting on Bridge
Arch bridges is the most natural form of bridge. In an arch bridge everything is under compression, which is what holds it up. Every section of the bridge has weight, and the compressive forces from the adjacent blocks acting on it, which is what holds it in place. If you look at the photo above you can see that the arch is holding up the rest of the structure and the supports of the road are spread evenly along the arch to give a distributed load.
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