Compare two suspension bridges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Compare two suspension bridges - Essay Example It is worth noting that both the Rhone River- Roquemaure Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York are suspension bridges, with the latter having the distinction of being the longest bridge of its kind in all of the United States (Kable 2013; Denenberg n.d.). The Roquemaure Bridge spanning the Rhone River in France, on the other hand, is a suspension bridge that came to replace an older bridge known as the 1835 Roquemaure Bridge, which still has a section in existence astride the present bridge, as a relic. The bridge is noteworthy for being one of 42 bridges in history that have spanned the Rhone River, and has steel as its key structural suspension cable material. consisting of two lanes, and three suspended spans, one main span and two side spans. It is currently in use and serving a useful function being used as a thoroughfare crossing the two sides of the Rhone River and providing commuters with a way to get through to the two sides with its two lanes, one going in opp osite directions and serving the needs of the surrounding population through time (Denenberg (b) n.d.; Denenberg (c) n.d.). The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is impressive in its history and its characteristics, having been made with a keen eye to the engineering and technological considerations and complexities in building such a long suspension bridge span, and mindful of the environmental conditions that the bridge must be able to weather year after year. For instance, each of its towers have a height of 693 feet, and these towers have deviations in terms of top and bottom. That deviation has been measured to be 1 and â…  inches. The deviations are due to the need for the bridge to take into consideration the curvature of the earth, given that the distance between the towers is 4,260 feet. The towers have individual weights of 27,000 tons, and are held