Pile bridge

Pile bridge

A pile bridge in Germany, c.1865
Carries	Pedestrians, Automobiles, Livestock
Span range	Short to long
Material	Wood, Concrete, or Steel
Movable	Generally no, but possibly has movable lift sections for watercraft passage
Design effort	usually low
Falsework required	usually not used

A pile bridge is a structure that uses

Pile bridges have been used to cross rivers and other geological chasms since at least the time of the Roman Empire. One such bridge was probably Pons Sublicius thought to have been first created around 642BC, although being made of wood; this bridge and none of the other Roman bridges of the period have survived the erosion of time.^[1]

Construction during medieval times

During the

Duration of pile bridges

Perhaps one of the most well-known of the medieval pile bridges, and one that was probably similarly constructed as a pile bridge by the Romans, are the older versions of London Bridge. However, even when the first version of the bridge as a stone structure was commenced during the reign of Henry II in 1176, oak piles were used as part of the construction. Indeed, some of those piles while driven in 1176 were still sturdy enough to be drawn in 1921, almost 750 years later.^[2]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to bridge.

• Fredriksdalsbron, a modern bridge using steel point-bearing piles
• Dolphin (structure)

References and notes