The truss bridge reflected many of the qualities of America 's industrial society by the early twentieth century: steel-made, mass manufactured, practical and unglamorous, sturdy and dependable, cost-competitive, and highly versatile. Such structures were, wrote David Plowden in his splendid Bridges: The Spans of North America, "appropriate icons to our industrialization." For the developing state of Oklahoma, steel trusses held symbolic value too, for they provided tangible proof to a wider world of economic possibilities.
The Principle upon which all trusses rely is that the triangle is the strongest and most rigid geometric Figure. By arranging the framework of triangles in patterns that varied from designer to designer, the structure
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This helps to make it easily integrated into the construction process.
The Disadvantages of Truss Bridges
1. Very Heavy
Truss bridges are massive and weight quite a bit. In for the surrounding land to be able to support these bridges additional support is often needed. This may include making adjustments to existing structures around the bridge.
2. Complicated Design
The design of truss bridges can become very complicated depending on the situation. The triangles have to be the perfect size and there has to be the perfect amount in order for the truss bridge to be safe.
3. Waste of Materials
If even just one small part of construction goes wrong, a very large amount of materials are wasted. 4. Maintenance
Due to the amount of materials and different parts, the upkeep on truss bridges can be difficult. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong if the bridge has issues.
In
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Opened on Nov. 14, 2001, the bridge has a single railway track running down the middle that is flanked by two 10-foot- (3-metre-) wide lanes for high-speed vehicular traffic. Also called a swing, or double-cantilever, bridge, the structure is 2,099 feet (640 meters) long and has a steel truss superstructure 41 feet (12.6 meters) wide and 197 feet (60 meters) high at the pivot. Each giant steel arm swings open 90°, creating a navigational space 1,050 feet (320 meters) wide. This process takes about 15 minutes. The Al-Firdan Bridge was designed and constructed by a consortium of German, Belgian, and Egyptian companies. The fifth bridge to be built across the Suez Canal, it replaced another railway bridge destroyed during the Arab-Israeli conflict (Six-Day War) in 1967. The project was completed in less than five years and was an important component of Egypt’s National Scheme for Sinai Development; it reconnects the peninsula’s only railway line, which runs some 225 miles (360 km) from Ismailia to Rafah. The bridge was meant to be a catalyst for agricultural and industrial development in the region, but it is also geopolitically significant because it makes it possible to cross between Africa and Asia in just a few