Ever wondered how bridges are constructed across large water bodies?
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Ever wondered how bridges are constructed across large water bodies?
There are many ways, depending on how deep the water is. They may create a hole in the water using a series of interlocking panels, sink those panels to the water bottom, pump out the water inside and then they have a dry space to work in. If the water is too deep, they may build a floating pontoon (hollow structure) on land, seal the ends and float it out to where it is needed, then sink it and add anchors around the sides with cables. If the water is deeper than that they may just use a floating tube of steel or concrete and add lots of anchors and stabilizing pumps around the edges and keep the tube upright.
The method used for constructing bridge over deep water body (river or sea) is the Cofferdam technique. In this method, a wall enclosing an area is build inside the water and water is continuously pumped out from the area. After that, foundation of the bridge(the pillars) is constructed inside the cofferdam. As the construction place is sea or river itself. Therefore, 24 hour monitoring is required outside the cofferdam to check high tides of water. Bridges build using this technique are strong and carry heavy loads.