I know I should not complain about TBB being promoted to the front page every week, but keeping it in the Diaries might actually give it a longer shelf-live..... So how about it? I promise to publish it earlier on Thursdays and hen you can promoted it to Friday Frontpage Bridge Blogging?

Here is a famous bridge before it really existed.  California's Golden Gate bridge while it was being built.

Photo from California Digital Library

There is a short history with more photos at this site.

One of the first truly big bridges built in the Middle Age was the Pont de St. Benezet, in Avignon: 22 stone arch openings. It was abadoned three centuries ago, now only four arches remain.

It inspired the famous French folk solg Sur Le Pont D'Avignon (lyrics), which my grandfather used to sing us before sleep, during summer holidays when I was a kid.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Here's a picture of a bridge that's not there any more. It might not fit your criteria of being famous, though.

The Colorado Midland Railway was the first standard gauge railroad to the mining districts of Colorado. It was built in the 1880s and eventually torn out in the 1930s. Severe winter weather, competition from other railroads, the collapse of the silver mining industry, and problems with government management during the First World War all contributed to its demise.

The route from the eastern prarie up into the mountains is particular steep just as you start, with a 7% grade for several miles. This required some daring engineering, including this bridge high over a residential area in Manitou Springs. You can't see any buildings in this picture, but there were some--one was crushed when an engine fell off the bridge.

Darn.  I don't know how to put pictures in comments, but we have a cool bridge near here and its days may be numbered so it almost fits the criteria.

It's the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge -- the world's longest floating bridge.  It goes across the northern end of Lake Washington from Seattle to Medina.  There's another bridge on the south end of the lake which famously sank in a storm in 1990.

The Evergreen one isn't in great shape and is scheduled for replacement or repair.  Sometimes in winter, if you're driving in the outside lane, waves will come up and hit your car.  It's quite frightening.  I've never quite understood the rationale behind having a floating bridge, but I suppose they had their reasons.   There's some photos of it here.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

This is a fascinating bridge to anyone sho has ever sat through a lecture on simple harmonic motion in an introductory physics class.  A pattern of oscillation was induced by a sustained wind of 40 mph through the narrow valley in which it was located.

here's a link

Video link

here's a picture

This was the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi river, between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa.  Soon after it ws built, in 1856, a steamboat collided with one of the piers and sank.  The steamboat line sued the bridge's owners, but Abraham Lincoln, a prominent Illinois lawyer, defended the bridge and won an important victory.  This case helped establish his national reputation, and he went on to became the president of the US during its civil war (1860-1865).

This bridge was destroyed by ice flows in 1868, and it has been rebuilt twice since then.  A short history is available from the Rock Island Arsenal.

Here is a photo of the old railway bridge of Chalabre now used for regular traffic: