The Colombia Bank And The Bridge Company

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The third bridge was started in 1868 and had 27 piers, and it was made of wood, steel and iron. It was made for the traffic of carriageways, railway and walkway and was destroyed on September 30, 1896 by a Hurricane. The fourth bridge, also known as iron bridge that time and now, was started in April 16, 1987 and splendidly completed on May 11. It was one of the fastest bridge completed in the world at that time. This bridge was supposed to have immunity for the risks like ice, water, and hurricane that had destroyed the previous bridges of wooden structures. It was also planned to be a double bridge, but it remained uncompleted. With the completion of Lincoln highway in 1925, the traffic flow increased and traffic jams became the routine, so, the fifth bridge, the Colombia Wrightsville Bridge was started. The fourth bridge used to carry Passengers train until 1954.

The construction of this bridge comprised of 100,000 cubic yards of concrete and 8 million pounds of steel reinforcing rods. The reinforced steel rods are those which have deformation ability, and have the ability to prevent any cracking caused by the stress and tension in the given construction structure. The reinforced concrete rods provided the extra ability to bear stress and increased the ductility: which means that it was not supposed to be broken under the stress applied and when it bears the stress the shape is changed but it comes back to its original position after removal of stress, preventing it form fractured. This technology was used to innovatively to make the structure of the bridge reliable and non-rigid. Due to this, the bridge was able to absorb any shock or the vibration created on the bridge leading to any crack and for this purpose 8 million pounds of the reinforced concrete bars were used.

These type of concrete structures got common in the mid eighteenth century, but it the usage of concrete in construction was also known by Ancient Egyptian and Romans. Presently the Burj khalifa (world’s tallest building) and the Hoover Dam are the well known examples of concrete structures. Due to its usefulness, concrete is being abundantly used and has the ability to keep the structure durable for the long time, provided that the rules of the construction are properly followed. By simply observing the bridge each pier of the bridge has the three sub arch beams that are supporting the bridge.

The type of Colombia- Wrightsville Bridge is termed as the deck arch bridge which means that the deck is above the arch. The area between arch and deck is known as spandrel and if the spandrels are solid in bridges, they are termed as closed –spandrel arch bridges. The bridge that has the longest span of deck arch bridges is the New River Gorge Bridge; whereas the longest span of the Colombia Wrightsville Bridge is 56 m. This bridge has been termed as engineering Landmark in 1984 by American Society of Civil Engineers.

The lighting of this bridges were replaced by a new lights after the second world war, but two of the bronze lights were left from the changing process because the previous build of bridge had the monumental nature. These lights remind about the reminiscence of the glory of the earlier days of this bridge.

The east end of the bridge is in the Columbia Historic District whereas the west end is in the Wrightsville and the both these boroughs have the historical and traditional importance. The Wrightsville is the borough in the York Country; Pennsylvania. President Washington liked it so much that they even decided it to make the capital of the states. The population of Wrightsville according to the census of 2010 is 2310 and is famous for the world longest covered bridge once spanned in 1914.

The bridge contained a long chain of the arches and due to the use latest technology in the era of 1930s such as using the modern construction methods and using the reinforced concrete, the bridge is still alive. The previous four bridges were unlucky, some of them were damaged due to the natural hazards while one of the bridge was damaged during the civil war of America, which was fought between the states, from 1861 to 1865. The issues of slavery in the western territories were the main causes if Civil War.

The bridges of its earlier editions also have their importance when the role of present bridge is discussed. But the second bridge has the historical specialty; it played main role in the Civilian war and the bridge was planned to be exploded. The bridge was planned to be blown at the fourth span (from the Wrightsville) and after selection of this spot, the mechanics were deployed to eliminate the roof and just leaving a frame structure of the bridge such that it did not remain passable and the detonation was planted by doing holes, when the bridge was to be exploded ,its timber was expected to shiver and 200 feet part to fall in the river, and the bridge would have become useless ( Sheldon, G., 2006 pp. 166).

The Deck arch technology has been used in many bridges, but in this bridge the combination of the Deck Arch technology and concrete reinforced rods were used to make it durable and sustainable in the long run. It was also necessary because of the traffic loads and the other construction requirements. The earlier transportation means got stale so the requisition of a new bridge was made that lead to the construction of this bridge. This bridge has -wide two-lane roadway, and a 6-foot wide sidewalk and has been registered at the National Register of Historic Places due to its historical importance and the heritage and history associated with it.

This bridge has the grace of the typical old style bridges and spans over the Susquehanna River connecting the Colombia and Wrightsville at the point where the river channel is very broad and this the reason it had been the longest covered bridged before. Presently the Bridge has also piers over the land and above the river too.

The year of 1863 was a brutal year, and the Confederate troops had intentions to cross the river and to invade the Wrightsville, following by a devastating defeat by Confederate General Robert and his army (Mingus, S., 2009 pp. 1). A plan of detonation was made to prevent the invaders from crossing the bridge but unfortunately the plan failed and the bridge was set to fire by the Colombian Unions and this bridge was burnt on the orders from the military but no compensations were ever recovered for the damage of this bridge by private company.

In the ancient time, the construction was mainly carried out by using wood and stone, and as the evolution came in the human civilization, the new methods came about for the well abode of humans. The industrialization had also the affect on the civilization as the people came from villages to cities and consequently the cites became congested, but to provide the economical solution for the place of living, the high rise buildings started to be built around 1920s and after this era, this construction was exploited by the builders who used as the sources of maximizing the profit and the poor constructions were made in the name of modernism, the materials used in that era were concrete, aluminum, steel and glass and these are also being used in the construction as well today.

If prefabricated structures were used

If the bridge were to be made today, it may have been made by using the pre fabricated structures and the long chain of arches would not have been necessary as the suspension bridges could provide the modern way of spanning the river, and the duration of construction would be very less by using the prefabricated structures. The consequence of this would be the time and cost saving as compared to the earlier technologies.

Commercialism of Construction

The civil engineering in the contemporary constructions have the same principles as those of used in 1929.When this bridge was built , the evolution in modernism had brought change in the style of construction. Presently there are a lot of companies that are building wonders of construction in the present era. Skilled labor is available for these types of construction and the computer designs have made these things very easy as compared to the era before 80 or 90 years, when these types of constructions were mainly started by only the Governments. However, at present time, the availability of capital can make it possible and it can be commercialized as it was commercialized in the previous builds of the bridge and the return on investment was recovered by charging the toll tax.

Use of computer generated designs

The computer designing methods have made the construction approaches easy and accurate; they can be used easily during the construction and provides the innovation. The innovations in the building of sky scrappers came about when the corporate giants in the super glamorous era of 1950s started making high rise buildings as their trademarks. Today no American building is the world’s tallest, the world tallest building is Burj Khalifa, as mentioned above, and the new world’s tallest buildings are in pending to be constructed. These technologies do not change the rules of civil engineering but the styles of constructions have been changed; the spirit of civil engineering is still constant.

Evolution of the subject knowledge

The massive structures are not new in the history of construction evolution and even the tall structures were also there but they had prestige as the wonders of the world, today the structures of the same height are not considered as the wonders of the world because the present technology has made such construction possible for any construction contractor, provided that the capital is sufficient, the same is the case of for the world tallest building which has been build due to the blessings of the commercialism in the construction works that an abundant investment could lead to the making of such structure and such structures are common in today’s world and are constantly being increased , whereas the real state businesses has also fueled the construction business and these are termed as the show of economic growth and the financial stability. These types of structures should be appreciated as they increase the evolution of construction as well as generates the information for the construction of creating more modern structures of the future.

Revolution in transportation

Presently the distances can be covered in the days and even hours which were in the past covered in the months, this is due to the revolution in transportation This bridge served as the medium of transportation and the role of transportation in the modern life is well known. Without the transportation different areas and locations can not be connected with each other and the transportation also plays the main part in the growth of economies. The conditions for trade and businesses are increased when the the good infrastructure and transportation routes and facilities are provided and this the transportation that has made the world a global village

CONCLUSION

The Colombia Wrightsville was one of the landmark bridges, with its classical construction style; it catches several eyes This Bridge has a series of piers that provides a fascinating look to it. This is not only the bridge but also reminds the history and also tells how much the water has been flown under the bridges with the advent of time. This bridge does not only represent the construction techniques and the use modern materials but this Bridge also represents a civilization. Before the construction of this bridge, four bridges were constructed to link the Colombia and the Wrightsville.

The earlier bridges had various misfortunes due to which they were made redundant or even they were wiped out, some of them were damaged due to the natural disasters whereas the one bridge was set to fire during the civil war to prevent the invaders. This bridge also provides the view to the remains of the old bridges which reminds about the glories of the previous bridges and the civilizations associated with them. The evolutions of techniques are observable while analyzing the history if the bridges in this river and the use of the most contemporary technology were used in the all bridges at the time with the available techniques.

The construction model in the bridge is the use of special steel and the arch structure. Concrete and steel made this bridge strong and this reason that this bridge has served so long. These materials provide the safety for the bridge and prevents from the factors that had affected the sustainability in the previous models. This bridge is not made of the wood and stone as compared to previous bridges or wood, stone and iron for its later models. By the passage of time this bridge is still present as it was earlier however wear and tear has also affected it. It is still used although around 80 years has been passed since its inception.

Due to the use of technology in the construction of the bridge, it has been deemed historical. This bridge provided a faster passage for the interstate traffic and made the traffic flow smooth. The traffic for this bridge presently comprises of the various modern vehicles whereas in the old days the traffic used to be passing from this bridge was the railways, carriages and the people walking on the foot. In the era of its wooden structures the railways were used to be transported from this bridge by means of mules pulling the rails to avoid the risk of being burnt by the fire caused by these locomotives, it is interesting to know that this bridge was prevented by the fire hazard but was intentionally set to fire during the civil war and this means of transportations were no more because of the peace issues generating from the core of slavery at that time. Although a lot of water has been under the bridge but this bridge still has its place in the history and the civilization and it represents an era.

Work Cited

AMerican Society of Civil Engineering, Colombia Wrightsville Bridge Columbia. Accessed 26 Apr. 13. http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/Projects/Landmarks/Columbia-Wrightsville-Bridge/

Civil War Albums, Colombia-Wrightsville bridge, 2007. Accessed 26 Apr. 13. http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc6/columbia_wrightsville_bridge3.htm

Historic Bridges, Colombia-Wrightsville bridge .Accessed 26 April 2013. http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=pennsylvania/columbiawrightsville/

Mingus, Scott. Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 186. Ironclad Publishing; 1ST edition, 2009.

Sheldon, Gorge. Fire on the River, The Defense of the World's Longest Covered Bridge and How It Changed the Battle of Gettysburg. Quaker Hills Press Incorporated, 2006.