Eads Bridge, St Louis

[The Barbarian]

The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois.

The bridge is named for its designer and builder, Captain James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet (1,964 m). The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material: it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project.[1]

The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, still among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of "caisson disease" (also known as "the bends"). Fifteen workers died, two other workers were permanently disabled, and 77 were severely afflicted.[2] - Wikipedia

The span itself might have been highly innovative at the time, but the approach ramp was somewhat more traditionalin style...

[hercules]

Nice shots Barbarian, what a wonderful looking bridge, gees that thing was built 133yrs ago,, but if your ever in Seattle again go take a shot of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge it's the longest bridge in the world at 7,578ft

[The Barbarian]

You know, I tried. But it's really difficult to get the scale and the function of that one in a photograph. I'm thinking that a shot from the water might be necessary. I never did get one that I considered to be acceptable.

[bahadir]

Veryappealingphotos you tookproviding life to the interesting information!

An enormous project which took lives to realise, btw...

I especially liked the section image in the smaller pic : )

[Torgny]

The Barbarian,

This is a fantastic bridge, I´ll read the texts but my immediate reaction is is that of beauty. It gives such an impression of functionality; nothing more, nothing less in that regard.

But this functionality also gives the feeling of beauty.Functionality -> beauty

Hope this makes sense. Great picture. Bridge construction - what civil engineering can be more meaningful. Bridge building - what physical labour can be more meaningful

/T

[JDar]

Many things must have been learned from the construction and most surprising the contribution to medical knowledge about effects of atmospheric pressure.

[musket]

Terrific shots and interesting history......................musket

[wadue]

Hey Barbarian, I wish I would have known that you were in town...I would have met you down there. I live about 15 minutes east of the Eads. Did you stay long enough for Fair St. Louis...the Eads is a wonderful spot for watching the fireworks! Yes, the Eads was an engineering miracle back in its day & thankfully the city of St. Louis finally did some repairs & improvements to it a few years ago & opened it up to car traffic. Also, they occasionally shut it down & have festivals on it which provides a spectular view of downtown.

Thanks for sharing!

Ron

[The Barbarian]

I was in town for a 3v3 soccer tournament. We just ran down there quickly to take a look. The complex was near a small airfield, and some AF ORFs were flying antique aircraft in and out all weekend.

Got some nice shots of them, here:

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...mp;forum_id=82

[bill43210]

the supporting steel work looks like lace you might find on a young womans night dress/gown, (ops) thanks for posting any more of this steel work?