United States – CREATING BRIDGES is a commonality we have shared with CENTURIES of other humans. If not for purposes of travel or trade, then in pursuit of bigger, better, or even just to make life easier. The art of bridge-building has evolved to through many brag-worthy accomplishments.
The world’s LONGEST BRIDGE is the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, although we have one here in America that is nearly 24 miles long and the LONGEST OVER WATER: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. To understand how long it is, take a look at the FEMA photograph below, showing what looks like a BRIDGE TO HEAVEN.
We even have a bridge that’s believed to be the SHORTEST INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE, 32 feet, connecting Canada to the US.
The internet is loaded with people who have opinions on the most beautiful of the many bridges, but I myself find they are all beautiful if you get them in the right light.
Enlarge the photo to the right to see the old yet beautiful Khaju Bridge in Iran.
Click Here for Huffington Post’s view of 20 gorgeous bridges from across the world.
There are the bridges deemed MOST FAMOUS and then there are those voted the SCARIEST. Glass bridges give us funny instances of people who look terrified, such as the video above.Haohan Qiao, or as CNN tells us, “Brave Man’s Bridge.”
That may be scary for sure, but I think the rope bridges are MUCH more terrifying. Take the Astore bridge in Pakiston, seen to the left, as an example.
WOULD YOU have the nerve to cross it?
I do not think I would, unless my life depended on it. Click here if you are the type that would, a travel website has but together a slideshow of the world’s scariest bridges.
In fact, after reading quite a bit about bridges in the last 48 hours I would say humankind would be NOWHERE without bridges, and we use them for so many reasons of necessity or conveinance. Walking, driving, even linking buildings over traffic-filled city streets.
Guinness World Records lists the “oldest datable bridge in the world” (that is still in use) is the Caravan Bridge, crossing the Meles River in Turkey, and dated to circa 850 BC. One online contributor is questioning whether the “Mycenaean bridge at Kazarma” should take it’s place though, since it has been dated to 1300 BC.
What about before modern times, any BIBLICAL BRIDGES?
There are a couple of examples, but I like the one regarding Jacob due to the debatable nature of it. Some believe it’s not in the right area to be the JACOB and HIS daughters you all think of, others believe the Daughter’s of Jacob Bridge may refer to these NUNS who were allowed to collect a toll, “known as the Daughters of James (which in Hebrew is Ya’akov, or Jacob).”
Another bible-related bridge is this VERY INTERESTING structure in Sri Lanka, being called ADAM’S BRIDGE, on left. It is SO large that it can be seen from from outer space!
The top layer may only be a couple thousand years old, but the manmade layer underneath is believed by some to be MORE than a million years old, fitting in with story of bridge over the ocean connecting India with Sri Lanka, described in the “Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana.”
Although created for good purposes, everything is exploited eventually, even bridges.
There are plenty of them that MUST watch for suicidal people, such as the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Click here for a list of “Suicide Bridges” compiled by opentravel.com.
In the end, TIME Magazine’s Worst Bridge Collapses In The Last 20 Years reminds us that we need to keep our eye on our own. IN 2013 USA Today reported that there were A SCARY 65,000+ bridges in US that are in need of repair.
The Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham, who has done a multi-faceted report on America’s bridges (such as MOST DANGEROUS) tells us that even though the numbers seem high, they “used to be a lot worse.”
That’s a relief…
