Talk:Pontoon bridge

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Contents 1 Seattle area 2 photo 3 Requested move 4 Requested move 2 5 First Pontoon Bridge in Combat: Dispute 6 China 7 Soviet/Russian PMP

[edit] Seattle area

Someone may want to mention why there are so many floating bridges in the Seattle area (and the one on Hood Canal). From what I understand, the only problem with floating bridges is that they aren't good in turbulent water. Lake Washington is unique in that it is relatively calm, extremely deep, very long but relatively narrow, and that two major cities lie at opposite sides of it's narrow axis. This makes it a perfect fit for floating bridges. The hood canal bridge is similar, though I would think the tides would affect it.--drew1718 13:48, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Also part of the Lacey V. Murrow bridge and the Hood canal bridge have sunk in the past.--drew1718 13:53, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Why not be that someone, drew1718? :) --Lukobe 17:11, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Tides are no more disruptive to the Hood Canal bridge than changes in lake level are to the Lake Washington bridges. Note that hood canal tides are not particularly large and that being a deep and relatively narrow glacial gouge that winds do not raise large waves as they do in more shallow inland waters such as in some of the Great Lakes. The most likely destructive scenario would be due to tsunamis generated by earthquakes, but these would be more likely to affect locations near Olympia, at the shallow ends of both Hood Canal and Puget Sound. Leonard G. 23:31, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I might take you up on that Lukobe, I've doing a lot of research on it, but it's more specific to the floating bridges in Washington state. Thanks Leonard, I had thought that the lake bridges and the Hood Canal bridge where engineered in a similar way. But, I now know that the Hood Canal bridge is actually supported by columns on top of the pontoons. However, the most likely destructive scenario (naturally occuring at least) is a large storm, as they've sunk two of the floating bridges already. --drew1718 20:19, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] photo

not sure if all floating bridges are pontoon bridges, otherwise I would post my photo of the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, Oregon. Cacophony 00:12, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Looks like a pontoon bridge, Cacophony. --drew1718 12:07, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move 2

I forgot to check back here before the discussion was already closed. It seemed to be closed pretty rapidly, too, about 4 days. I did not want to mess with the "closed" section above, so I am putting my response here.

I think that I should explain better (it is perfectly reasonable to disagree with my position, but I think I may not have explained it very well). Pontoon bridges are a subtype of floating bridges, but almost all floating bridges are pontoon bridges. There is a section in the article called "floating bridges", but it is just examples of bridges and all of them are probably of the pontoon type. The way that Wikipedia defines "pontoon" means even things like log bridges might be classified as pontoon bridges. The only floating bridges that are definitely not pontoon bridges that we could come up with are bridges supported by hulls - kind of like lining up a bunch of boats and constructing a roadway over it. I don't think that we could make an article bigger than a substub about floating bridges if pontoon bridges are not included. Therefore, I suggest that the name of this article be changed to floating bridges. Except for the introduction, the rest of the article would be the same, except a small section for non-pontoon floating bridges would be made. Pontoon bridge would then redirect to floating bridge. Here is an example edit to show how the article would be changed. It was just a rough edit and I forgot to put in that most floating bridges are pontoon bridges, but hopefully you can get the idea.

An article on floating bridges could be beefed up if we limited what is defined as a pontoon. Other sources don't seem to have the same definition that we do. They seem to only include completely enclosed, watertight compartments, particularly rigid ones. Wikipedia includes "solid lightweight materials", so basically anything that floats becomes a pontoon, like styrofoam and wood (which are sometimes used for bridges). There is also the question of whether watertight compartments that are not rigid, like rubber and plastic bladders, should be called pontoons (I don't know if they have ever been used for bridges, though). -- Kjkolb 12:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] First Pontoon Bridge in Combat: Dispute

The information in the 'Military Bridges' section stating that the first pontoon bridge to be built in combat was in Iraq is not correct. The reference cited for this is a photo journal of soldiers present in Iraq which actually states that it was the first time an Assault Float Ribbon Bridge was installed in combat. There are at least two references I found on the web referring to pontoon bridges built under fire over the Rhine River in World War II where engineers were killed. One reference is a summary of a published book, one is somebodies recollections. The latter mentions the former. See First Across the Rhine:The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium, and Germany and William F. Tompkins, Jr. Bridge respectively. There are also mentions in various sources of the Germans in the advance through the Netherlands and Belgium during the beginning of the war, and of the Russians crossing the Volga river during a major battle. Considering the long history of this bridge type, the claim that the first time one was constructed during combat was in the 21rst century is pretty much just that. No doubt it was made by someone who is justifiably proud of their accomplishments. However given the evidence, it would indicate that the Assault Float Ribbon Bridge is the first time this 'type' of pontoon bridge was built in combat. This should be clarified and if someone thought it worth the effort, it should be moved to a different section.

Actually, this wasn't even the first in combat. I'm not sure if this is the first, but the pontoon bridge built over the Rappahannock River during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. This was a pontoon bridge built while those building it were under fire. I think that would mean it was a "Pontoon Bridge in Combat" at the very least. Leobold1 (talk) 23:27, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] China

I justa added more info about China.--PericlesofAthens 16:49, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Soviet/Russian PMP

I've thrown up a few referenced facts about the PMP pontoon bridge at talk:Tank#Water operations. —Michael Z. 2008-05-28 15:13 z