Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1950) - USA

Harmony with landscape:

The 1950 Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that carries the
westbound lanes of Washington State Route 16 (known as Primary State Highway 14 until 1964) across
the Tacoma Narrows strait, between the city of Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula.

Design Suspension
Total length 5,979 feet (1,822.4 m)
Longest span 2,800 feet (853.4 m), side spans 1,100 feet (335.3 m)
Clearance above 186.4 feet (56.8 m)
Clearance below 195 feet (59.4 m)
Distinctive character:

The road deck itself was seen as a major innovation in suspension bridge design. Lanes of traffic on
typical suspension bridge roadways are divided by dashed paint lines, a solid strip, or a set of two strips of
paint. On the 1950 span's final roadway design, the 46-foot (14 m)-wide roadway was split into four lanes
of traffic, each lane being 9 5⁄8 feet (2.9 m) wide. Each lane was separated by a 3-inch (76 mm) deep, 33-
inch (840 mm)-wide open air wind grate. Bordering the outside lanes was a 19-inch (480 mm) open air
wind grate that supported a 5-inch (130 mm) pipe curb elevated 1-foot (0.30 m) off the roadway. These
also formed the separation between the roadway, and a 3-foot (0.91 m)-wide sidewalk on both sides that
was fenced in by a 4-foot (1.2 m)-high railing.

Users experience:

For the first few decades after its opening, traffic congestion was no issue. Off of the west end of the
bridge, Highway 16 (until 1964, it was signed as Primary State Highway 14-PT) transformed to a four-
lane freeway from a narrow two-lane country highway. By the late 1980s, as developers began
constructing housing and shopping mall projects in Gig Harbor, Highway 16 was expanded and realigned
from a meandering two-lane country road to a four-lane freeway that stretched from Tacoma to Gorst. As
a result, traffic congestion grew enough to where backups began occurring. In 1980, average counts were
at 38,973 vehicles per day. In 1990, the figure increased to 66,573—exceeding its designed daily capacity
by 6,573. Many of the backups on the bridge occurred on the east end as workers from Tacoma headed
towards their homes in Gig Harbor, and those backups would stretch as far as Interstate-5 nearly 6 miles
(9.7 km) away. These backups continued to get worse, and by 2000, the average daily count of traffic on
the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was 88,000. This prompted the state legislature to call an advisory vote to
build a new span across the Narrows.

Designer, Engineering Firm:

Charles E. Andrew as Principal engineer and Chairman

Dr. Theodore von Kármán, Glenn Woodruff as Members

Firm:

Sverdrup and Parcel of Chicago, Illinois

The Severn Bridge (1966) – U.K.

Harmony with landscape:

The Severn Bridge, sometimes also called the Severn–Wye Bridge, is a motorway suspension bridge
spanning the River Severn and River Wye between Aust, South Gloucestershire in England, and
Chepstow, Monmouthshire in South East Wales, via Beachley, Gloucestershire, which is a peninsula
between the two rivers. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and Wales, and took
three-and-a-half year to construct at a cost of £8 million.

Design Suspension
Total length 0.99 mi (1.6 km)
Height 445 ft (136 m)
Longest span 3,240 ft (988 m)
Clearance below 154 ft (47 m)

Distinctive character:

Between the towers is suspended this cable which takes this particularly strong characteristic form of a
parabolic curve. And the great success of the Severn Bridge truly is the fact it is simply beautiful, like a
great work of art. It's like hanging washing on a line - you can see how the washing is supported by the
thin wire. Two lane and the surfacing is a 35 mm (1 3⁄8 in) thick layer of mastic asphalt over an acrylic
waterproofing membrane.

Users experience:

In January 1977, it was announced that bridge traffic would be restricted to a single lane in each direction
following the discovery of several weaknesses in the ten-year-old structure. The Severn Bridge crossing
was strengthened and resurfaced in the late 1980s as the weight of traffic grew. This bridge is one of the
beautiful bridge in the UK having impressive architecture where people enjoys the natural beauties of the
Severn river. However users are not happy as because of increasing amount of tools in every year
imposed by British government.
Designer, Engineering Firm:

Substructure-John Howard
Superstructure-William Arrol

Firm:

John Howard & Co., Sir William Arrol & Co., Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company and Dorman Long

The Lions Gate Bridge (1938) - CANADA

Harmony with landscape:

The Lions Gate Bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver,
British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North
Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The term "Lions Gate" refers to The Lions, a pair of mountain peaks
north of Vancouver. Northbound traffic on the bridge heads in their general direction.

Design Suspension
Total length 1,823 m (5,981 ft)
Height 111 m (364 ft)
Longest span 473 m (1,552 ft)
Load limit 13 tonnes (12.8 long tons; 14.3 short tons)
Clearance below 61 m (200 ft)

Distinctive character:

A pair of cast concrete lions designed by sculptor Charles Marega, were placed on either side of the south
approach to the bridge in January 1939.The bridge has three reversible lanes, the use of which is indicated
by signals. The centre lane changes direction to accommodate for traffic patterns. The bridge forms part
of Highways 99 and 1A.

Users experience:

The Lions Gate Bridge has become a landmark of Vancouver and the North Shore where the traffic
volume on the bridge is 60,000 - 70,000 vehicles per day. Trucks exceeding 13 tonnes (12.8 long tons;
14.3 short tons) are prohibited, as are vehicles using studded tires. On March 24, 2005, the Lions Gate
Bridge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.The bridge was featured on the first title card of
CBC supper-hour newscast Canada Now, but it was replaced with a local image in several markets.The
bridge is often used in television broadcasts as a symbol of Vancouver; most telecasts of NHL hockey
games played in Vancouver show the bridge at least once.

Designer, Engineering Firm:

Charles Nicholas Monsarrat and Philip Louis Pratley

Firm:

Montreal firm Monsarrat and Pratley, Swan Wooster Engineering, Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade &
Douglas, Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc., Canron Western Constructors, Dominion Bridge
Company, American Bridge Company.