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Chain Bridge (Potomac River)
The Chain Bridge is a viaduct which crosses the Potomac River at Little Falls in Washington, D.C. The steel girder bridge carries close to 22,000 cars a day. It connects Washington with affluent sections of Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia. On the Washington side, the bridge connects with Canal Road. Left turns onto the Clara Barton Parkway from the Chain Bridge are prohibited, but the reverse is permitted. On the Virginia side, the bridge connects with State Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road), which provides access to the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The Chain Bridge has three lanes (of which the center is reversible) and can be safely accessed by pedestrians and cyclists. The pedestrian sidewalk provides access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath via a ramp. The bridge also carries water mains which provides Arlington County with water from the Washington Aqueduct. History The first bridge at the location was opened on July 3, 1797. It was a wooden c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide valley, road, river, or other low-lying terrain features and obstacles. The term ''viaduct'' is derived from the Latin ''via'' meaning "road", and ''ducere'' meaning "to lead". It is a 19th-century derivation from an analogy with ancient Roman aqueducts. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early viaducts comprised a series of arches of roughly equal length. Over land The longest in antiquity may have been the Pont Serme which crossed wide marshes in southern France. At its longest point, it measured 2,679 meters with a width of 22 meters. Viaducts are commonly used in many cities that are railroad hubs, such as Chicago, Birmingham, London and Manchester. These viaducts cross the large railroad yards that are needed for freight trains there, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
