Reusing Infrastructure
By Henry Petroski
When the need for a bridge changes, sometimes so too can the bridge
This Article From Issue
May-June 2010
Volume 98, Number 3
Page 191
DOI: 10.1511/2010.84.191
A bridge is typically built for a specific purpose. Hence we have railroad bridges, highway bridges, pedestrian bridges. Of course, some bridges serve multiple purposes: The Brooklyn Bridge is famous for having a pedestrian walkway raised above the roadway traffic. In earlier times, this landmark bridge also carried horses, wagons, trucks, trains and trolley cars. No matter the original intent, the use of any bridge can change over time for a variety of reasons, ranging from the shifting ways and means of the communities and industries that it serves to the deterioration or obsolescence of the structure itself.
Photograph by Austin McEntee, from Bridging the Hudson: The Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge and Its Connecting Rail Lines … A Many-Faceted History.
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