A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads across all the spans; in a series of simple trusses, each truss must be capable of supporting the entire load.
7-512: The Taylor–Southgate Bridge is a continuous truss bridge that was built in 1995. It has a main span of 850 feet (260 m), and a total span of 1,850 feet (560 m). The bridge carries U.S. Route 27 across the Ohio River , connecting Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio . Some regard this bridge, which was a replacement for the structurally deficient and functionally obsolete Cincinnati-Newport Bridge built by Samuel Bigstaff, as
14-619: A continuous truss. For example, the northern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge was initially constructed as a series of five simple truss spans. In 2001, a seismic retrofit project connected the five spans into a single continuous truss bridge. Continuous truss bridges started to be constructed in Europe during the second half of the 19th century. Although the advantages of continuous bridges were known, three main engineering challenges slowed their widespread adoption: However, it
21-430: A little too plain in its design for a major urban bridge, especially considering many cities today are opting for a more elegant design, such as a cable stayed bridge . The bridge is named for the families of James Taylor, Jr. and Richard Southgate , two important early settlers of Newport. Richard was the father of William Wright Southgate , a pre Civil War Congressman from northern Kentucky . The bridge replaced
28-702: The Cincinnati-Newport Bridge , a truss bridge built in 1890. Commonly known as Central Bridge, it was demolished in 1992. This article about a bridge in Kentucky is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a bridge in Ohio is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Continuous truss bridge Although some continuous truss bridges resemble cantilever bridges and may be constructed using cantilever techniques, there are essential differences between
35-480: The structure for stability. Severing a continuous truss mid-span endangers the structure, as exemplified by the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024. However, continuous truss bridges do not experience the tipping forces that a cantilever bridge must resist because the main span of a continuous truss bridge is supported at both ends. It is possible to convert a series of simple truss spans into
42-418: The two forms. Cantilever bridges need not connect rigidly mid-span, as the cantilever arms are self-supporting. Although some cantilever bridges appear continuous due to decorative trusswork at the joints, these bridges will remain standing if the connections between the cantilevers are broken or the suspended span (if any) is removed. Conversely, continuous truss bridges rely on rigid truss connections throughout
49-879: Was possible to avoid these issues to a certain extent through careful design. The early European bridges were usually lattice trusses with three to five spans. An example was the Boyne Viaduct , built in 1855 in Drogheda , Ireland . The first continuous truss bridge in North America was the Lachine Bridge in Montreal , built in 1888, followed by the Sciotoville Bridge in 1916 and the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge in 1918. Since
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