List of pontoon bridges explained
These pontoon bridges are semi-permanent floating bridges located throughout the world. Four of the five longest floating bridges in the world are in Washington state.
Longest
The former
Albert D. Rosellini Evergreen Point Bridge, at 7,578 feet (2,310 m), built in 1963, was the longest floating bridge in the world until the replacement bridge opened in 2016.
List
Australia
Belarus
- Sozh Floating Bridge
- The new floating bridge replaced an older one and spanned the Sozh River at Korma, Belarus
- Built in 2003/2004, carries light automobile traffic.
Canada
China
Curaçao
- Queen Emma Bridge
- A pontoon bridge from Punda to Otrabanda across the harbor of Willemstad on the island of Curaçao. Notable because this permanent bridge is hinged and opens regularly to enable the passage of oceangoing vessels.[1]
- Span 548feet
Egypt
- Martyr Ahmed El-Mansy Floating Bridge
- A pontoon bridge in the Suez Canal in Ismailia to connect the west and east banks of the canal with two lanes of vehicular traffic and a pedestrian lane.[2]
- Span 1148feet
Guyana
India
- Howrah Bridge
- Completed 1874.
- Decommissioned 1943
- This bridge, connected Howrah and Calcutta on opposite banks of Hooghly River, was built using timber on pontoon and was opened to let river traffic through.
Norway
Spain
- Puente de Barcas (Boat bridge), Seville[3]
- Completed 1171, Spans 149 meters (488,8 ft).
- Moved 1845 for construct Puente de Isabel II
- Scrapped 1852
Turkey
- Galata Bridge
- Completed 1875. Spans 2985feet.
- Decommissioned 1992.
- This floating bridge crossed the Golden Horn in Turkey. After it was damaged by a 1992 fire, it was towed up the Golden Horn to make way for the fifth and current Galata Bridge, a bascule bridge.
United Arab Emirates
- Floating Bridge, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- A new floating bridge has been erected over Dubai Creek to ease traffic on over creek crossings in Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
- The bridge opened to the public on 16 July 2007; two weeks after applying the Salik road toll to the Al Garhoud Bridge.
United States
- Admiral Clarey Bridge, a moveable pontoon bridge that connects Ford Island with Oahu in Pearl Harbor.
- The Dardanelle pontoon bridge over the Arkansas River connecting Pope and Yell counties at Dardanelle, Arkansas.
- Replacing a private ferry when it opened in 1891, the movable structure operated as a toll bridge. It was used until January 1929, when a toll-free bridge of concrete and steel replaced it at a cost of $600,000.
- Once considered the longest pontoon bridge in the world at 2,150 feet, its original construction cost $35,000.
- The original reason for the bridge was the hauling of cotton bales considered vital to the railroad that owned it.
- Over the years, it was washed away, in parts or completely, many times.[4]
- Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge — Evergreen Point
- SR 520 Albert D. Rosellini Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (2016 bridge)
- Completed 2016. Spans 7710feet.
- World's longest and widest floating bridge. Built to replace the 1963 bridge of the same name.
- Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge
- Original bridge completed in 1940 but sank in 1990 because of weather and mishaps in maintenance.
- Second bridge completed 1993. Spans 6620feet.
- Spans Lake Washington in Washington State, carrying Interstate 90 traffic eastbound from Seattle to Mercer Island. A toll bridge until 1946, its common name is the I-90 bridge or Lake Washington Floating Bridge. It was the first floating bridge longer than a mile, and at the time was the longest floating structure in the world. It is now the second longest floating bridge in the world.
- Hood Canal Bridge
- Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge
- Eastbank Esplanade
- Completed 2001. Spans 1200feet.
- Located in Portland, Oregon, it is the longest floating pedestrian bridge in the United States.
- Sunset Lake Floating Bridge
- Located in Brookfield, Vermont
- Built on logs in 1820, then upon tarred barrels in 1884, rebuilt using plastic barrels filled with styrofoam in 1978, carries light automobile traffic. This bridge was closed for replacement spring of 2008, and the current iteration makes use of fiber-reinforced polymer pontoons.
Notes and References
- Web site: album - Pontoon Bridge, Willemstad . boldts.net . 2010-09-02.
- Web site: Martyr Ahmed El-Mansy Floating Bridge in Suez Canal . .presidency.eg . 2021-08-29.
- Book: Troyano, Leonardo Fernández. Bridge Engineering. 2003. Thomas Telford. 978-0-7277-3215-6. 145. there have been pontoon bridges which lasted many centuries due to successive repairs and rebuilds. A good example is [...] Triana bridge, which was a pontoon bridge for almost 700 years, from the twelfth century, when the Moors built it.
- News: The Famous Pontoon Bridge at Dardanelle . 1 March 2023 . The Arkansas Gazette . Gazette Publishing Company . July 30, 1922 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 26 . Although it has been rebuilt a number of times, its general plan remains essentially the same as the day it was completed. Its pontoons have disintegrated when the receding of the river has left them high and dry and they have sunk in periods of high water. They have broken loose in flood and drifted out of the memory of men; they have gone down under the weight of snow and ice. Yet always they have been salvaged or rebuilt or replaced or recovered and the highway thrown again across the river....
- Web site: SR 520 Floating Bridge and Landings Project . 8 . July 19, 2022.