Bridge

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is also the bridge card game.

A bridge is a structure built to cross an open space or gap. A bridge is most useful for crossing areas, such as rivers, valleys, or fissures, where wheeled vehicles are unable to go; but people have also used bridges for a long time for walking. Bridges may also be used to move vehicles in different directions without needing traffic control, such as with a highway overpass.

Bridges also have uses in the military, because the enemy might try to dig holes in the ground or create rivers in order to prevent tanks and the supply line from following. Military bridges have to be portable, so that they may be easily moved to the front lines, and so they are much more complex than regular civilian bridges.

[edit] Types of bridges

There are four main types of bridges: beam bridges, cantilever bridges, arch bridges and suspension bridges. Beam bridges are mostly straight-out and simple. A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers: structures that go horizontally into space, supported on only one end. Arch bridges are just that: Bridges that have arches. Suspension bridges are suspended (hung) from many steel ropes that support, or hold up, the bridge.