Vertical-lift bridge

Vertical-lift bridge

An animation showing how a vertical-lift bridge operates with vehicular and shipping traffic
Ancestor	Truss bridge,
Related	Bascule bridge, swing bridge, folding bridge, retractable bridge
Descendant	Submersible bridge, table bridge
Carries	Automobile, pedestrians, truck, light rail, heavy rail
Span range	Short
Material	Steel
Movable	Yes
Design effort	medium
Falsework required	Depends upon degree of prefabrication

A vertical-lift bridge or lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.

The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swing-span bridge. Generally speaking they cost less to build for longer moveable spans. The counterweights in a vertical lift are only required to be equal to the weight of the deck, whereas bascule bridge counterweights must weigh several times as much as the span being lifted. As a result, heavier materials can be used in the deck, and so this type of bridge is especially suited for heavy railroad use.

Although most vertical-lift bridges use towers, each equipped with counterweights, some use hydraulic jacks located below the deck. An example is the 16-metre (52 ft) span bridge at St Paul Avenue in Milwaukee (see also table bridges). Another design used balance beams to lift the deck, with pivoting bascules located on the top of the lift towers. An example of this kind was built at La Salle in Illinois, USA.

The biggest disadvantage to the vertical-lift bridge (in comparison with many other designs) is the height restriction for vessels passing under it. This is a result of the deck remaining suspended above the passageway.

Examples

Australia

The Bridgewater Bridge is one of the last remaining operational vertical-lift bridges in Australia

• Ryde Bridge - road - Ryde, New South Wales - opened 1935, now permanently lowered
• Harwood Bridge - road - Harwood Island, New South Wales - opened 1966
• Port Adelaide - rail - opened 2008
• Bridgewater Bridge - road & rail - Bridgewater, Tasmania - opened
• Clyde River Bridge - road - Batemans Bay, New South Wales - opened 1956
• Hobart Bridge - road - Hobart, Tasmania - opened 1943, closed 1964 and demolished afterwards

Belgium

• Humbeekbrug^NL - road - zeekanaal Brussel-Willebroek - opened 1968

Canada

• Bridges 5 (Glendale Avenue Bridge), 11 (Allanburg Bridge) and 21 (Clarence Street Bridge) on the Welland Canal, all built during the late 1920s as part of the Fourth Canal expansion project (1913–1932). In addition, there are also Bridges 13 (Main Street Bridge), 17 (Dain City Railway Bridge) and 18 (Forks Road Bridge) on the Welland Recreational Waterway (a former channel of the Welland Canal). However, these bridges have not been operational since 1973. Bridges 13 and 18 have had their counterweights removed while the machinery for Bridge 17 has been dismantled. In addition, Bridge 18 no longer possesses its towers; they were removed for ease of maintenance.
• Burlington Lift Bridge, over the Burlington Canal, Burlington, Ontario. Information is available from Transport Canada
• Pretoria Bridge over the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Ontario
• Selkirk Lift Bridge over the Red River in Selkirk, Manitoba
• Victoria Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River connecting Saint-Lambert and Montreal, Quebec.
• Second Narrows Bridge Vancouver, BC over Burrard Inlet (rail bridge).
• Okanagan Lake Bridge in Kelowna, BC across Okanagan Lake - replaced in 2008.
• Shippagan Bridge Shippagan, NB over Shippagan Bay.
• Sir Ambrose Shea Bridge, Placentia, NL. Built 1961.

France

• Pont Gustave-Flaubert - Crossing the Seine at Rouen this lift bridge is the highest lift bridge in Europe, allowing ships up to 55 m tall to pass under it. It is 670 m long, with a span of 116 m. A striking design feature, the two road sections are mounted outside the central towers. The bridge was designed by François Gillard and Aymeric Zublena and opened to road traffic on 25 September 2008. It is named after the author Gustave Flaubert who was born in Rouen.
• Pont de Recouvrance - Over the Penfeld in Brest giving access to the military arsenal.
• Pont Levant de Crimée - Over the Ourcq Canal, the last surviving lift bridge in Paris

Indonesia

• Jembatan Ampera (Ampera Bridge) - an automobile lift bridge located in Palembang that cross the Musi River. This bridge is still used by road vehicles but it never lift its road deck again.

Japan

• Chikugo River Lift Bridge - connecting Ōkawa, Fukuoka and Saga, Saga. Constructed as a railway bridge in 1935, it is 507 m long, with a central span 24 m long that weighs 48 t and rises 23 m. The railway closed in 1987, but the bridge reopened to pedestrians in 1996 and was designated an important cultural property in 2003.

The Netherlands

• Gouwe - three identical lift bridges crossing the Gouwe river at Alphen aan den Rijn, Boskoop and Waddinxveen, built in 1930.

Germany

Kattwyk Bridge, in Hamburg, Germany

• Karnin Lift Bridge, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Kattwyk Bridge, in Hamburg

United States

Tower Bridge in Sacramento, California

Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon

• Aerial Lift Bridge - An automobile bridge in Duluth, Minnesota which began life as an aerial transfer or ferry bridge.
• Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge - Connecting Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York; with a lift with a 559-foot (170 m) span: the longest lift span in the world.
• ASB Bridge - A two-deck bridge over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri. From 1911–87, handled both trains and cars, on separate decks, and still carries railroad traffic.
• Broadway Bridge - A bridge spanning the Harlem River and carrying both road traffic and trains of the New York City Subway's no. 1 line.
• Burlington-Bristol Bridge - A two-lane bridge over the Delaware River, joining Bristol, Pennsylvania with Burlington, New Jersey near Philadelphia
• The BNSF Railroad Bridge across the Willamette River, in Portland, Oregon. The 516-foot (157 m) lift span replaced a swing span in 1989 and, with 200 ft (61 m) of clearance underneath when raised, it is one of highest vertical-lift bridges in the world.
• Canal Street railroad bridge - Chicago, IL 1914
• Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge - A single-track railroad bridge over the Cape Cod Canal in Bourne, Massachusetts.

Two Erie Canal lift bridges in Lockport, New York Note the pedestrian stairs that allow foot traffic to cross the open span. Initially these bridges normally remained open for canal traffic and closed on demand for the sparse road traffic of the early 20th century

• Cape Fear Memorial Bridge - A four-lane bridge over the Cape Fear River that joins Wilmington and Brunswick County, North Carolina.
• Carlton Bridge - Road and single-track rail bridge built in 1927, repaired 1976. Road was bypassed in 2000 with new Route 1 bridge, now only used for rail. Crosses the Kennebec River near Bath Iron Works.
• Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Lift Bridge - A single-track railroad bridge over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Delaware that was built in 1966 for the Pennsylvania Railroad and replaced an earlier structure when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers widened the canal in the mid-1960s. It is the only bridge of its type along the canal, with earlier highway lift or swing bridges being replaced by high-level crossings.
• Claiborne Avenue Bridge - A four-lane bridge over the Industrial Canal carrying LA 39 in New Orleans.
• Conrail Bridge - A single-track railroad bridge over the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, one of nine railroad and automobile lift bridges, and three bascule bridges, allowing ore boats to service the Flats.
• Danziger Bridge - The world's widest vertical-lift movable bridge, at seven lanes, over the Industrial Canal in New Orleans.
• Fore River Bridge- Proposed Replacement bridge for Route 3A over Fore River in Quincy & Weymouth Massachusetts Opens 2015.
• Fourteenth Street Bridge (Ohio River) - A single-track railroad bridge over the Ohio River at its widest point, Louisville, Kentucky.
• Green Island Bridge - Opened in 1981, its span is a simply supported plate girder bridge supported by a cross member.
• Hastings Rail Bridge - A single-track railroad bridge at Hastings, Minnesota over the Mississippi River.
• Hawthorne Bridge - A four-lane bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Opened in 1910, it is the oldest operating vertical-lift bridge in the United States.
• Helen Madere Memorial Bridge called the "Rio Vista bridge" locally, which carries SR12 across the Sacramento River in Rio Vista, California.
• Interstate Bridge - Carries Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Its towers are 190 ft (58 m) tall, above the roadway.
• Joe Page Bridge - Along the Great River Road and Illinois Route 100, it connects Greene County, Illinois at Hardin, Illinois to Calhoun County, Illinois over the Illinois River, and has a lift span of 308 feet 9 inches long.
• Lehigh Valley Railroad Bridge - Over Newark Bay, used by freight rail within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area

The Interstate Bridge, on Interstate 5 in Oregon–Washington, is one of only very few opening bridges on the national Interstate Highway System.

• Main Street Bridge - A four-lane bridge over the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville, Florida.
• Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge - Crosses Rockaway Inlet between Brooklyn and Queens, New York; designed in 1937 by David Steinman.
• Murray Morgan Bridge - Steel lift bridge in Tacoma, Washington. Notable for its height above water, sloping span and overhead span to carry a water pipe. Closed October 23, 2007.
• Park Avenue Bridge - New York City bridge with a 340-foot (100 m) span, which replaced a swing bridge in 1956.
• Philadelphia Naval Shipyard - A bridge that connects 26th Street with the west-end of the ship yard over a waterway between the Schuylkill River and Reserve Basin.
• Portage Lake Lift Bridge - A bridge which connects the Michigan cities of Hancock and Houghton
• Sault Ste. Marie International Railroad Bridge - A bridge system with 9 camelback spans, one of which is a lift bridge.
• Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and Memorial Bridge - Two lift bridges (out of 3 bridges) over the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine.
• Stillwater Lift Bridge - A highway bridge that joins Stillwater, Minnesota with Houlton, Wisconsin over the St. Croix River.
• St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge - A single-track railroad bridge in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota over the Mississippi River.
• Steel Bridge - A double-lift bridge in Portland, Oregon over the Willamette River. Its lower deck carries railroad tracks and a bike lane and can be lifted independently of the upper deck with a road and light rail tracks. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world.
• Tower Bridge - A four-lane bridge over the Sacramento River connecting Sacramento and West Sacramento, California.
• Torrence Avenue (Chicago, IL) and four railroad bridges along Calumet Shipping Canal
• Triborough Bridge (New York, NY) - A bridge connecting the boroughs of Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The Triborough is really four separate bridges; the spans from the Bronx to Randall's Island and from Randall's Island to Manhattan are vertical-lift bridges. In 1934, when the Triborough was built, the span between Randall's Island and Manhattan was the largest vertical-lift bridge in the world.
• William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge - A six-lane bridge that crosses over the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison, New Jersey.

The vertical-lift section of the Fourteenth Street Bridge at the east entrance to the Portland Canal in Louisville, Kentucky.

United Kingdom

• Kingsferry Bridge - built in Kent in 1960.
• Turnbridge Lift Bridge - highly unusual bridge at Turnbridge in Huddersfield.
• Salford Quays lift bridge - carries pedestrians across the Manchester Ship Canal.
• Tees Newport Bridge - 82m span, first major lift bridge in the UK.

Russia

• Rostov-on-Don Railway Bridge

Gallery of images

• 

  One of the vertical-lift bridges over the Gouwe River. It was built in 1930.

• 

  ASB Bridge in Kansas City, Missouri.

• 

  Main Street Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida.

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  The Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge is the largest in the world.

• 

  A lift bridge over the Erie Canal at Lockport...

• 

  ...elevates at both ends...

• 

  ...and nears its upward position. Pedestrians may cross when it is up using stairways.

See also

• Movable bridge for a list of other movable bridge types
• Table bridge for a vertical-lift bridge without visible lifting means
• Submersible bridge for a similar disappearing bridge

References

Bibliography

• Leonardo Fernandez Troyano (2003). Bridge Engineering: A Global Perspective. Thomas Telford Publishing. ISBN 978-0727732156. 

External links

Media related to Vertical-lift bridges at Wikimedia Commons