Our thanks to Walter Arnold (miragebym on Flickr), who lives near Asheville, North Carolina, for sharing this beautiful HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo of the Poinsett Bridge in South Carolina. (To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.)

The following information is from Wikipedia:

Poinsett Bridge, which is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, was built in 1820 as part of a road from Columbia, South Carolina to Saluda Mountain. It is a stone bridge. It is no longer in use, but it is still largely intact. It is part of the 120 acre Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve. In the future, a picnic area and walking trail will be built at the preserve. There are additional pictures and information about the bridge available from the Historic American Engineering Record at the Library of Congress. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places, No. 70000590, in 1970.

It is off U.S. Highway 25 north of Greenville, South Carolina. After passing South Carolina Highway 11, turn right onto Old US 25. Then turn right onto Callahan Mountain Road near North Saluda Reservoir. Poinsett Bridge is on the left side of Callahan Mountain Road.

This Photo is representative of a Group of Photographer’s photos on Flickr called Bridges in HDR. Bridgepix is proud to be the administrator of this Group which has 750+ members with 2,580+ photos. To see these amazing photos, please click Bridges in HDR.

Here’s one of our photos of the Bixby Bridge from our trip to California in June, 2006.

The following information is from Wikipedia:

Bixby Creek Bridge is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge in Big Sur, California, 120 miles south of San Francisco along Cabrillo Highway (CA-1). It is 714 feet long, 24 feet wide and has a main span of 320 feet. It is one of the most photographed bridges in the world because of its location along the beautiful central California coast, and has frequently been used in automobile commercials. It was also featured in the opening sequence of the television series “Then Came Bronson” in the late 1960’s.

Bixby Creek Bridge is important historically because it introduced automobile travel to Big Sur, connecting the remote coastal towns to each other. Before the bridge was completed by Ward Engineering Company in 1932, coastal travelers endured rough wagon roads over precipitous ridges and valleys. The 30 mile journey from Monterey to the Big Sur River valley could take three days round trip. The design engineer for the Bridge was Norman Raab, who also designed the Donner Summit Bridge (a concrete arch bridge near Truckee, CA).

The bridge was retrofitted in 1997 as part of the Caltrans Phase II seismic retrofit program. The retrofit solidifies the bridge’s structural and landmark status for the next generation of Californians.

Our thanks to Bob Cortright (Bridgink on Flickr), author of Bridging the World and creator of the Bridge of the Month Quiz, for sharing this beautiful photo of the Lhasa River Railroad Bridge in Lhasa, Tibet. (To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.)

The following information is from Wikipedia:

Lhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel. The city is the traditional seat of the Dalai Lama and the Potala and Norbulingka palaces (both are included in a World Heritage Site) and in Tibetan Buddhism is regarded as the holiest centre in Tibet. The city is home to about 255,000 inhabitants and, at an altitude of approximately 3,650 m (11,975 ft), is one of the highest cities in the world.

Located at the bottom of a small basin surrounded by mountains, Lhasa has an elevation of 3,650 meters (12,000 feet) and lies in the center of the Tibetan Plateau. The mountains around it rise to 5,500 m (18,000 ft). The Kyi (or Kyi Chu) River, a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River), runs through the city. The city stands by the Lhasa River known to local Tibetans as the “merry blue waves,”. It runs through the snow-covered peaks and gullies of the Nyainqentanglha mountains, extending 315 km. The river empties into the Yarlung Zangbo River at Qüxü, forming an area of great scenic beauty. With its flat land and mild weather, Lhasa is free of both frigid winters and unbearably hot summers, having an annual average daily temperature of 8 degrees C (43 degrees F). It enjoys 3,000 hours of sunlight annually, so much more than most other cities, it is sometimes called the “sunlit city.” Lhasa has an annual precipitation of 500 mm. It rains mainly in July, August and September. The rainy seasons in the summer and fall are widely regarded the “best” seasons of the year, when it rains mostly at night, and is sunny in the daytime.

The Qingzang railway, Qinghai–Xizang railway, or Qinghai–Tibet railway is a high-altitude railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, in China. The total length of Qingzang railway is 1956 km. Construction of the section between Xining and Golmud 815 km rail was completed by 1984. The section of the 1142 km railway between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on 1 July 2006 by president Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were “Qing 1″ (Q1) from Golmud to Lhasa, and “Zang 2″ (J2) from Lhasa. This railway is the first to connect China proper with the Tibet Autonomous Region, which due to its altitude and terrain is the last province-level entity in the People’s Republic of China to have a conventional railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on May 1, 2006. Trains run from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xining and Lanzhou. The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 m above sea level the world’s highest rail track. The 1,338 m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world, at 4,905 m above sea level. The 3,345-m Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line. It is 4,264 m above sea level, 80 kilometres north-west of Lhasa. More than 960 km, or over 80% of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and over half the length of the railway is laid on permafrost.

Here’s one of our photos of the Transandine Railway Bridge from our recent visit to Chile:

The following information is from Wikipedia:

The Transandine Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Trasandino) was a metre gauge combined rack and adhesion railway which operated between Mendoza in Argentina across The Andes mountain range via the Uspallata Pass to Santa Rosa de Los Andes in Chile, a distance of 248 km. The railway has been out of service since 1984, and has been partly dismantled. Although the Transandine Railway was projected in 1854, work did not begin until 1887, and the entire line was not finally opened until 1910.

The line followed roughly the ancient route taken by travellers and mule-trains crossing the Andes between Chile and Argentina and connected the broad gauge, 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), railway networks of the two countries, rising to a height of almost 3,200 metres at Las Cuevas where the track entered the Cumbre tunnel, about 3.2 km long, on the international border. Nine sections of rack were laid in the last 40 km of track on the Argentine approach to the tunnel, ranging from 1.2 km to 4.8 km in length, with a maximum gradient of 1 in 17. On the Chilean side there were seven sections of rack in just 24 km, of which one section was 16 km long with an average gradient of 1 in 13. Sections of the line were protected by snowsheds and tunnels.

The original idea to build the line came from Juan and Mateo Clark, Chilean brothers of British descent, who were successful entrepreneurs in Valparaiso. In 1871 they built the first telegraph service across the Andes, between Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago in Chile and in 1874 the Chilean government granted them the concession for the construction of the rail link. Due to financial problems their company, Ferrocarril Transandino Clark, did not begin work on the construction in Los Andes until 1887. The section between Mendoza and Uspallata was opened on 22 February 1891 and extended to Rio Blanco on 1 May 1892, to Punta de Vacas on 17 November 1893, to Las Cuevas on 22 April 1903. On the Chilean side the section from Santa Rosa de Los Andes to Hermanos Clark was opened in 1906 and extended to Portillo in February 1908. By 1910, when the entire line was opened to traffic, the company had been taken over by the British-owned Argentine Transandine Railway Company.

Wow! Here’s one of the most impressive images of a bridge that we have ever seen! Our thanks to SkyShaper on Flickr for sharing this photo of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.

The following information is from SkyShaper:

“Growing up in NYC, it was impossible to not hear the ghost stories and urban legends about The Hell Gate Bridge - the tales of kids going up there, seeing lights of trains that just never seemed to come, and when they did, they were filled with the lost souls of the Spanish and Dutch explorers who’s boats legend has it, sank in the turbulent currents directly below the bridge for which it was named after. It is here that Long Island Sound, as well as the East and Harlem Rivers converge - making for currents that have claimed many a life and made the location an ideal dumping ground for victims of the Mafia over the decades. An occasional skull or bone has been known to wash ashore…

And while not drowning in the water below the bridge or being chased by demons on the bridge span itself, there were legends of a child molesting homeless rapist, who would grab kids and drag them into the massive chamber in the base of the bridge blindfolded. According to legend, when the police finally figured out where he was dragging the kids to and stormed the place, they found areas covered wall to wall of photos of said kids being raped. The sickly smell sent investigators out to the park to throw up in the nearest trash can.

With stories like these, if you were a male, grew up in Astoria at the time, and didn’t have the balls to go up on the bridge, you just weren’t as cool as you shoulda been, (not that I knew many who actually did ). The bridge was a right of passage. From boy to teen. It is important to note here that no other bridge in NYC that I know of shares this same near mythological status.”

Our thanks to jag9889 on Flickr for sharing this beautiful photo of the Northampton Street Bridge spanning the Delaware River. (To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.)

The following information is from Wikipedia:

The Northampton Street Bridge is a bridge connecting Easton, PA and Phillipsburg, NJ that crosses the Delaware River. The bridge opened on October 14, 1806 and is maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission even though this bridge isn’t a toll bridge. The bridge was designed and built by Timothy Palmer one of the most famous bridge builders of his time. This bridge was a covered bridge that would stand against storms and floods while other bridges fell. This bridge carried U.S. Route 22 from 1926 to 1933; it is known locally as the “Free Bridge” thus distinguishing it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge just upstream to the north. In August 1955, the bridge was heavily damaged by floating debris from flooding resulting from the aftermath of Hurricane Connie and Hurricane Diane which passed through the Lehigh Valley area about a week apart.

To see an extensive collection of Bridge Photos from jag9889, click here,.

This Photo is representative of a Group of Photographer’s Photos on Flickr called Bridges and Tunnels. Bridgepix is proud to be the administrator of this Group which has 4,480+ members with 24,790+ photos. To see these photos, please click Bridges and Tunnels.

Our thanks to Scott (Photo Passion on Flickr) for sharing this awesome Sunset photo of the I-74 Bridge in the Quad Cities of Bettendorf, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. (To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.)

The following information is from Wikipedia:

Originally known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, today it is more commonly referred to as the I-74 Bridge. The bridge crosses the Mississippi River and connects Bettendorf, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. It is located near the geographic center of the Quad Cities. The first span opened in 1935 as a toll bridge. In 1959 an identical twin span was added to satisfy increased traffic. The twin spans were upgraded to carry interstate traffic in the mid-1970’s. In 2005, an average of 77,800 vehicles crossed the I-74 bridge daily. This compares with 22,100 vehicles at the I-280 Bridge, 25,500 vehicles at the Government Bridge, and 26,000 vehicles at the Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge, which carries Interstate 80. Both the Interstate 80 and 280 bridges are up to Interstate standard, while the Interstate 74 bridge has two narrow lanes, no shoulder, and a 50 mile-per-hour (80 km/h) speed limit. The I-74 Corridor Study is underway to study replacing the bridge with a larger one with 3 lanes in each direction.

Here’s one of our photos of the Mormon Bridge north of Omaha, Nebraska.

The following information is from Wikipedia:

The Mormon Bridge are two truss bridges that cross the Missouri River connecting Pottawattamie County, Iowa with Florence in the north end of Omaha, Nebraska via Interstate 680 (Iowa-Nebraska).

The first bridge was finished in 1952 after an unsuccessful attempt in 1936 to build a bridge at the same site. It originally connected Nebraska Highway 36 with unsigned Iowa Highway 988. It was originally a toll bridge operated by the North Omaha Bridge Commission with $3,450,000 in bonds. It was officially called the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge but in common usage it has been called the Mormon Bridge and got its name because the Mormon Trail passed nearby. Spencer W. Kimball, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church), was the last to pay the toll on April 21, 1979 when the second bridge to the north of the original bridge was added, and it became part of the Interstate Highway System.

Here’s a recent photo of the Hogback Bridge, one of the six remaining Covered Bridge in Madison County, Iowa southwest of Des Moines.

Hogback Covered Bridge - Built in 1884 by Benton Jones, it measures 97 feet, and is in its original location in a valley northwest of Winterset. Hogback gets its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of the valley. It was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $118,810.

The Bridges of Madison County is a best-selling novel by Robert James Waller which tells the story of a lonely Italian war bride who engages in an adulterous affair with a National Geographic photographer from Bellingham, Washington who has come to Madison County, Iowa in order to create a photographic essay on the covered bridges in the area. The novel is presented as a novelisation of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fiction, though some have speculated that, due to admitted similaries between the author and the main character, some elements of the novel may be slightly autobiographical.

The Bridges of Madison County was made into a 1995 film of the same name adapted by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Clint Eastwood. It stars Eastwood and Meryl Streep. (Wikipedia)

Here’s one of our favorite Railroad Bridge Photos on Flickr posted by Jacee Tan (PhotoLanguage on Flickr)

Railway Bridge
Thompson River
Kamloops
British Columbia
Canada

To see a larger version of this photo on Flickr, please click on the image at the left.

To see other interesting photos from Jacee, please click here.