Vertical-lift bridge

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.^[1] 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 52-foot (16 m) span bridge at St Paul Avenue in Milwaukee^[2] (see also table bridges). Another design used balance beams to lift the deck, with pivoting bascules located on the top of the lift towers.^[3] 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
• Hexham Bridge – road – Hexham, New South Wales – opened 1952.
• Harwood Bridge – road – Harwood Island, New South Wales – opened 1966
• Port Adelaide – rail – opened 2008
• Bridgewater Bridge – road & rail – Bridgewater, Tasmania – opened 1946
• 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
• 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

The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas's approx. 110-metre (360 ft) lift span is likely the longest in Europe,^[4] but that of the Pont Gustave-Flaubert is very nearly as long.

• Pont Gustave-Flaubert – crossing the Seine at Rouen, this lift bridge is the highest vertical-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 metres^[5]. 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.^[7]
• Pont de Recouvrance – over the river Penfeld in Brest – road & tramway ^[8]
• Pont Levant de Crimée^FR – over the Ourcq Canal; the last surviving vertical-lift bridge in Paris
• The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, spanning the River Garonne in Bordeaux, was opened in March 2013. The central lift span is 117m long and can be lifted vertically up to 53m to let tall ships pass underneath. The bridge is 575m long with the central lift span weighing around 2,600 tonnes. Its width varies from 32 to 45m and it will be used by cars, trams, cyclists and pedestrians. It can handle 43,000 vehicles a day and will reduce traffic congestion in Bordeaux.^[9] Structurae gives a length of 110 m for the lift span,^[10] making it probably the longest vertical-lift span in Europe.^[4]

Germany

Kattwyk Bridge, in Hamburg, Germany, with its lift span raised

• Rethe Lift Bridge in Hamburg, from 1934
• Karnin Lift Bridge, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Kattwyk Bridge , in Hamburg, has a lift span 100 m long, one of the longest in Europe^[4] It's opened in a regular schedule every two hours.

Indonesia

• Ampera Bridge – an automobile lift bridge located in Palembang that cross the Musi River. This bridge is still used by road vehicles but since 1970 never lift its road deck again. Eventually its counterweights removed in 1990.^[11]

The Botlek bridge in Rotterdam is being replaced by a much bigger one, built right next to it.

The new bridge will have two lifting spans of 87×50 m (95×55 yd), each with a surface area approaching a football field^[12]

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.^[13]

The Netherlands

• Gouwe – three identical lift bridges crossing the Gouwe river at Alphen aan den Rijn, Boskoop and Waddinxveen, built in 1930.
• Botlek Bridge^NL – in Rotterdam

Russia

• Finland Railway Bridge, in Saint-Petersburg
• Rostov-on-Don Railway Bridge , in Rostov-on-Don

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.
• Salford Centenary Bridge – road bridge across the Manchester Ship Canal, opened in December 1994.

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.^[14][15]
• 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.
• Bridge 710 - A single-track railroad bridge over the Calumet River in Chicago that served U.S. Steel's South Works. Formerly owned by EJ&E and now owned by Canadian National since their purchase of EJ&E.
• 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 the highest vertical-lift bridges in the world.^[16]
• 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, the nearest one shown raised for canal traffic (and closed to road traffic). The pedestrian stairs allow foot traffic to cross the raised 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.
• Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge (roadway bridge) and the directly adjacent Henry Ford Bridge (railroad bridge), at the Port of Los Angeles
• 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.
• Delair Bridge – A two-track rail bridge carrying New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line passenger trains and Conrail freight trains over the Delaware River. Bridge built 1896; lift span inserted in 1960 over a relocated and widened shipping channel to replace the original swing span which was immobilized.
• Dock Bridge – A six-track rail bridge in New Jersey carrying Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and PATH trains over the Passaic River. Consists of three parallel vertical lift spans carrying one, two and three tracks respectively from south to north, with both tracks of the 2-track span at a higher level than all the others.
• Fairport Lift Bridge – A two-lane vehicle and pedestrian bridge spanning the Erie Canal in Fairport, New York. Built in 1914 and notable in design due to its irregular, ten-sided structure as well as the 32-degree angle at which it crosses the canal.^[17]
• Fore River Bridge- Proposed replacement bridge for Route 3A over Fore River in Quincy and 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.
• Harry S. Truman Bridge – Opened in 1945, a single track railroad bridge over the Missouri River, in Kansas City, Missouri.
• 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.^[16]
• Helen Madere Memorial Bridge, called the "Rio Vista bridge" locally, which carries SR12 across the Sacramento River in Rio Vista, California.
• Hood River Bridge – over the Columbia River, connecting Hood River, Oregon, with White Salmon, Washington
• 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.^[18]
• 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.
• Oregon Trunk Rail Bridge, built in 1912 – crossing the Columbia River and still in use by BNSF freight trains
• Park Avenue Bridge – New York City bridge with twin 340-foot (100 m) spans, which replaced a swing bridge in 1956. Carries all Metro-North lines operating out of Grand Central Terminal.
• 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
• Rio Hondo Bridge – Built in 1953, Texas’ only lift bridge built between 1945 and 1960 still operating. Considered a prime gateway of the Rio Grande Valley, the bridge remains critical to the region’s economy. Every year, its spans open about 250 times to make room for barges hauling fuel, fertilizer, sand and cement to the Port of Harlingen.
• 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.^[19]
• Thames River Bridge (Amtrak) – Two-track rail bridge in New London, Connecticut carrying Amtrak's Northeast Corridor over the Thames River. Built in 1919, a new vertical lift span was erected in place of the original bascule span in 2008.
• 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 Manhattan Span (New York, NY) – A bridge connecting the boroughs of Queens and Manhattan. In 1934, when the Triborough was built, the Manhattan 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.
• Yancopin Bridge – A former railroad bridge over the Arkansas River in Arkansas converted to a rail trail. Built in 1903, bridge contains both a lift and a swing span; river channel under lift span now high and dry due to meandering.

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

Gallery of images

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

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  ASB Bridge in Kansas City, Missouri.

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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.

• 

  CSX mainline between Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA crossing tidal Wallace Creek.

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

External links

Media related to Vertical-lift bridges at Wikimedia Commons