This week’s DP photo challenge is Curve.
Those who have been following me know that I am a fan of bridges; I like them as they connect one place to another, overcoming obstacles like river, sea, rivers, gorges etc.
They improve connectivity which we all need.
In the early part of my career, I have been designing and project engineering some bridges which still stand today, after 40 years of their design and over three decades of their construction.
This post is about curve bridges; in fact, they are mostly masonry bridges.
In early part of the human history, we have discovered that if we arrange the masonry or stones in the shape of arches, the resulting structure will be put into compression for which stones have a lot of compressive strength.
The stone or masonry of course will need to be cemented together so that there will be a smooth flow of compression in the arches. Human beings have been very clever in erecting curved spans over torrential waters etc..
Many of the bridges were built on this principle and quite a lot of them have lasted for hundreds of years.
Here I will first showcase some of the arch bridges built in the West, the first two examples were taken in Spain, namely, Seville and also Toledo.
The third one is a medieval bridge near France in the area known as Cahorrea.
The fourth one was taken in Central Park, NYC.
The fifth one was taken in Switzerland, this is a contemporary structure with vertical memebers transferring loads from the highway onto a concrete arch. 
The rest of the bridges are built in the East.
The one with three curved spans over a river, looking like three contagious ribbons were taken in Shinkoku, Japan.
This is followed by a three span masonry bridge in the West Lake China, creating an attractive reflection in the West Lake waters.
The last one with the red Autumn foliage was captured in South Korea.
I could go on and on, citing more examples – if I can get hold of my old pictures.
For the time being, please enjoy 🙂
retireediary 
Cool shots Michael. Did you work on any of these?
No, I didn’t. The ones I worked on are the more modern highway or railway bridges of prestressed concrete construction.
You need a photo of the Confederation Bridge that connects the mainland of Canada with the Province of Prince Edward Island. The longest sea bridge in the world and built in 1997 by a French Engineer. It is a spectacular bridge.
Will sure have a look if I come by that way.
The longest sea bridge is no longer this bridge though.
Those are such beautiful pictures of beautiful bridges. Thank you!
I too love arched bridges. My family and I were traveling in Provence looking for a Roman bridge — the Julian Bridge. We stopped our car on a bridge to look up and down the river, to see if we could find the bridge. We saw some people on the side and asked them where the Roman bridge was. “You’re driving across it now” was the response. We were driving back and forth over a 2000 year old bridge!
It is incredible that such bridges can stand out for centuries!
I hope yours will too!
Thank you, Elyse!
Love the bridges. Thanks for sharing them. I love to look at rooftops. They show a different and not often seen way of viewing a place.
Glad to hear from you, Jamaowl!
That is a marvelous collection! Enjoyed that very much!
Thank you, Dennis!
A beautiful collection of bridges Michael. My favourite is the third one, in France.
Yeah, that’s a beauty!
Super shots Michael
Thank you, Adrian!
I loved your collection of curved bridges Michael. The old stone ones are my favourites. Bridges are a wonderful symbol too, aren’t they, linking people and places together – we can never have too many bridges 🙂
Many of them look elegant too!
Oh yes, they certainly do 🙂
😄
Amazing gallery.
Glad that you like it!
Excellent. I’d been waiting for a Bridge post from you. 😉
While I have been involved in many types of infrastructure projects, bridges are the ones I like most. I am running out of topics . . . .
I know you said that before. Go back to old files. Or take a brief trip out. Your mother will be all right for a week, won’t she?
I think her condition can only get worse with time. Apart from cancer, she has been having other health issues – one week, I suppose is the maximum I can go.
Yes, my friend, I never mentioned that but it is important that you are aware of it. And still, there is time. Meanwhile, do take a week’s break. She’ll be all right. And when you come back you can tell her what you did on the trip. 🙂
I will seriously consider that. Thanks for the advice which is always so practicable.
Trust me. I’ve been there.
Yeah, grateful for the advice.
Thank you for the beautiful and informative posts about bridges.
Thank you for the kind words !