Tyler S. Miller

The Construction of the Bay Bridge

Credit: Flickr

Wired.com ran a story and video showing behind the scenes construction and workings of the new Bay Bridge.  I am so intrigued by this.  In high school I was in a class called Principles of Engineering.  In that class, I learned a lot about design and the formulas and mathematics behind these big projects.  We had to build Manila folder bridges that could hold or support a certain weight.  All we could use were those folders and glue.  We constructed the bridge and we had enough knowledge that none of the bridges failed.  Overall it was a great class project and was very fun to do.  I still have that bridge we made sitting in my room.  Moving on...the video of how this bridge stands up to earthquakes is quite fascinating.  They compared it to fuses in your car that can handle the extra current.  Watch the video to find out more.  So, enjoy.  Give me your thoughts on the new Bay Bridge in the comments.