Talk:Causeway

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Contents 1 Sheeps Foot 2 Imitation Sheep's Feet???? 3 Bridge? 4 "Elevated by a bank"?

[edit] Sheeps Foot

A machine with a sheeps foot! surely that takes the description a little far? CustardJack 5 July 2005 16:00 (UTC)

[edit] Imitation Sheep's Feet????

I think I'd like to see some documentation of this. Does anyone have any idea what this is about, or are we being treated to someone's exercise in whimsy? Septegram 20:20, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge?

My understanding is a causeway is NOT considered a bridge. However the US discussions refer to them as bridges... Nil Einne 04:21, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Elevated by a bank"?

I wish to take issue with the definition in the opening sentence, that "a causeway is a road or railway elevated by a bank". Dictionary.com's definition is more broad: a causeway is simply a raised roadway. i.e. it need not be "elevated by a bank", but may also be elevated by something else. [UPDATE: I checked three printed dictionaries (MacQuarie, Collins Consise, Oxford Consise) and they say all the same as Dictionary.com Rocksong 09:38, 7 June 2006 (UTC)]

The reason I mention this is the Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram here in Australia, which crosses a "causeway", which is raised not by a bank, but by wooden supports. (You can just see the wooden supports in the photo at the Victor Harbor page). I guess some people would call it a bridge. I'm wondering if Victor Harbor is the only example of this broader use of the word "causeway". (Dictionary.com, cited above, suggests it is not). If so, the definition should be amended, or at least clarified for variations in local use. Rocksong 01:26, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

OK, I've looked further. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is also not a causeway by the definition in the article: it is supported on concrete pilings, and is in fact also called a pair of bridges. Perhaps the definition (or somewhere in the article) should note that in some parts of the world, bridges in very shallow water (such as the two examples I've given) are sometimes called causeways? Rocksong 13:08, 7 June 2006 (UTC)