This week, Anne hosts a challenge that is based on architecture. Her title indicates a wide variety of potential subjects for inclusion. She writes, “My challenge for you, this week, is to find your own fascinating structures that capture your attention, tell a story, or are just beautiful.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

For my challenge response, I feature a specific architectural structure, the bridge. In architecture, a bridge is a structure that spans a physical obstacle such as a river, valley, road, or railway line, providing a passage over it. It is designed to support the weight of people and transport vehicles, and allows for crossing from one side of the obstacle to the other.

My opening image features the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge. Its purpose is to carry traffic across the chasm instead of taking a longer route that requires vehicles to cross over the top of Hoover Dam. At 1,900 feet (579 m) long, with a 1060-foot-long (323 m) main span, the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge opened to traffic as the highest and longest single-span concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

About 60 miles (97 km) west of my home in Fargo, North Dakota, lies the spectacular Highline Bridge, one of the longest and highest single-track railroad bridges in the United States. The drone image panorama features three images stitched together to capture the entire 3,860-foot (1,177 m) long and 162-foot (49 m) span.

The Highline Bridge has been serving as a regular train route since May 1908 and remains operational to this day. The bridge’s girder, deck, and plate construction rises above the Sheyenne River Valley at Valley City, North Dakota.

These two bridges connect the city of Winnipeg’s St. Boniface neighborhood, with The Forks area in downtown Winnipeg. The automotive bridge is curved and consists of an 820-foot (250 m) long five-span, precast concrete girder structure.

The pedestrian bridge’s design features a cable-stayed deck supported by a single pylon that rises 187 feet (57 m) above the river. The building underneath the spire opened as a restaurant, but Google Maps indicates it is now being used as an office building.

In western North Dakota, the Fairview Lift Bridge spanned the Yellowstone River in 1917. The bridge’s design demonstrated the clout of the steamship companies in the upper Midwest. Engineers were required to install a lift section to allow steamboats’ unimpeded transit. It took so long to complete the bridge, steamboats were no longer navigating the river and the lift section was never used.

Sometimes mistaken for the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894. The term “bascule” references a balanced design similar to a see-saw. With the help of counterweights, the roadway sections between the two towers are lifted to allow tall ships to pass underneath.

In May 1980, the eruption of Mount Saint Helens caused a lasting impact on the landscape. The volcanic explosion resulted in the destruction of the existing highway leading to the volcano. To replace the original highway, a new road called State Route 504, also known as the Spirit Lake Highway, was constructed.

This bridge, towering over a deep valley, is the tallest among the 14 bridges on Highway 504. The valley beneath the bridge reaches a depth of approximately 370 feet (113 m) and crosses Hoffstadt Creek as it winds its way toward the Toutle River. The span is the second tallest bridge in the area and claims the title of being the third tallest bridge in the northwestern United States.

During our journey on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad out of Skagway, Alaska, we encountered a historic bridge. As we crossed the Skagway River on a modern bridge, the steel cantilever bridge above came into view, standing tall even though it has been unused since 1969.

As we traveled over the newer bridge, capturing the old trestle in two images, I had already decided that I might stylize the photographs to give them an aged appearance, I chose the first image in black-and-white and the second in high-key color.

In the ghost town of Sims, North Dakota, this bridge sits unused just like the town where it now sits. For 104 years, the bridge was a way to cross Sims Creek just north of Altamont, North Dakota. The Warren Pony Truss design was not conducive to modernization and because of its truss construction, it couldn’t be widened. In July 2020, the bridge was moved near the only building in Sims that is still in weekly use, the Sims Scandinavian Lutheran Church. You can read the story of the old Sims Creek Bridge here.

I am particularly fond of bridges, so I hope Anne forgives me for focusing on but one style. You can pixel-peep these images in 2K HD via my Flickr album here.

Next week it’s Donna’s turn to “bug” us… er, ah, that’s not a pejorative (sorry, Donna), her theme relates to bugs and other small things. If you’d like to join in but aren’t sure how to get started, details are here.

John Steiner