InfrastructureUSA.org is a non-profit, online community whose mission is to bring together infrastructure experts, industry leaders, government officials and most especially interested citizens, to participate in vigorous conversation and generate action to address the U.S. infrastructure crisis.

Infrastructure is a crucial component of a prosperous society. Solid infrastructure connects people together, serves our communities, expands our economy. Bridges are some of the most recognizable symbols of man-made infrastructure, both appealing to the imagination and crucial to our thriving societies.

Today, there are over 620,000 bridges in the United States that carry vehicles, people, and goods daily. Supporting over 188 million trips each day, these bridges are economic necessities. Despite their instrumental role in our society, over 9% of bridges in America are considered “structurally deficient”, due to factors such as increased use, age and decay, and insufficient funding. An estimate from Bridgemasters suggests that it would take about $123 billion to begin to restore the integrity and design of our bridges.

Building bridges is a complex project requiring intensive study from civil engineers and infrastructure specialists. The architectural, structural, and mechanical design of bridges is shaped around four major stages.

• Site testing: Planners check the layout of the land and its properties to determine its suitability for construction.
• Project planning: Engineers use computer-aided design to visualize the bridge under different conditions and loads.
• Construction: Workers break ground, assembling parts like the superstructures, supports, and design elements for the bridge.
• Maintenance: Bridges must be inspected to ensure they can maintain their weight over time.

Successful bridges draw from the environment they are in and provide uniqueness, integration, and functionality to our communities. It is important for our bridges to receive the structural improvements needed to sustain our economy, productivity, income, and employment.

With infrastructure projects being a bigger priority for governments, BigRentz put together an animated infographic that visualizes the entire bridge building process, from the types of bridge designs used to how bridge columns are erected over bodies of water.

Tags: BigRentz, Bridge building process, Bridges Infographic, How bridges work, Inforaphic

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 at 10:15 am and is filed under Bridges, Guest Post, The Infra Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.