The Y Bridge
Zanesville in Ohio claims that their Y-bridge is “the only Y-shaped bridge in the world!”
Now in its fifth incarnation, the bridge spans the Licking river to the West and the Muskingum river to the East. Allegedly this makes the Y-bridge the only place in the US where you can cross a bridge but stay on the same side of the river.
Hang on, Ohio actually have another Y-bridge! Not too far from Zanesville, the Akron Y-bridge is where two roads come together to share a bridge. Officially titled the “All-American Bridge”, its other unofficial title is sadly the “Suicide Bridge”.
Uh, hang on again. The “Galena Y-bridge” in Galena, Missouri has been closed to vehicles since 1986 (when a new bridge was created to the North), but nevertheless it’s still a Y-shaped bridge. In this case the Y-shape was created to allow traffic heading East across the bridge to go either North or South, as heading straight on would involve driving straight into the side of a mountain…
More info on the Y-bridges in Galena, Akron and Zanesville.
Thanks: onTypes
The first bridge seems unique (at least among these three) in that you can come from any of the three directions and go in any of the other two directions. The other two bridges are just merging or splitting traffic going one direction.
Yeah, the two other bridges are just some bridges with two exits (or entrances). I wouldn’t call them Y-Bridges. There are tons of those everywhere.
These are sometimes called “Tridges” instead of Bridges…
http://www.midlandonline.com/wwwroot/moladmin/articles/articledisplay.cfm?art_id=75
Heres the Tridge in Google maps
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Steve,
I see that it is a ‘tridge’, but it’s pedestrian only. The Y-bridge is still unique in that it is for automotive traffic with an intersection in the middle of a river.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Of course, we in Italy (…yawn, I hear from you all…) don’t build nice little bridges, but whole towns on water… this is chioggia:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
I agree with #1, the Zanesvilel bridge is unique as it has an actual intersection on it. I’ve driven that bridge, and if I recall right, there’s a traffic light on the bridge.
Now, what you guys really need in the middle of that bridge is a roundabout like this one in the UK. Please note you can go round it in either direction, clockwise or anticlockwise…the fun happens when a French driver wants to leave on the wrong side of the road…
Without wanting to be overly pedantic, harking back to a post a week or so ago on the floating bridge, a definition was given:
bridge noun:
a time, place, or means of connection or transition
And in that way, the Tridge is a bridge as much as the Y bridge. If you had specified “unique motor vehicle Y shaped bridge, than we might agree…
And finally for me today, on bridges - my favorite Italian bridge, just North of Lucca - with three arches of increasing sizes:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
I like the “Tridge”, although some pedants might point out that it never actually crosses the river to the West (not that I think this matters).
The Zanesville bridge’s uniqueness is getting very complex now: I think it’s the “only Y-shaped bridge in the world where you can come from any of the three directions and go in any of the other two directions, in a motor vehicle”…
Can anyone confirm (or deny) it’s other claim to fame about crossing a river but staying on the same side?
Here’s ANOTHER one! But, unfortunately, this one never got build (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/development/2030/History/images_lrg/ThreeLeg.asp
Although I think the bridge in Zanesville is a very neat design for a y-shape bridge, with millions of bridges all over the world there might be many more. Even I have a number to present here. Lets start with the highway bridge “Placemark: Talbrücke Schnaittach / Google Earth“, one of the longest bridges in Germany. It has been build using the ‘incremental launching method’, more precisely ‘match cast method’ in this case, because as you can see it is not simple curved nor straight. See more on Wikipedia (German only).
An older design is the 860 years old “Placemark: Steinerne Brücke / Google Earth in Regensburg, which provides a small branch (maybe added much later). See also the Placemark: Margaret Bridge / Google Earth (Wikipedia).
Last but not least take a look at the Placemark: Aioi bridge / Google Earth in Hiroshima, which was used as the target for the the atomic bomb “Little Boy” 1945.
Werner: excellent post, thanks for that.
I go to the University of Akron, so this is pretty cool that Akron gets noticed for something other than polymers
I’ve driven down in the valley below the bridge, and seen it. Someday I want to go around Akron and take some pictures. I’ll send my favorite google maps site some of the bridge
Nice ones Werner, but I still think the Zanesville one is unique (among the bridges shown thus far).
The Talbrücke Schnaittach looks to just split into two bridges for traffic going in opposite directions. This is very common.
The Margaret and Aioi are close, but it looks to me like traffic going in one of the directions of the main span has only one destination, they cannot turn onto the minor span, nor can cars on the minor span turn on the main span in that direction. Not to mention there is clearly a main span of the bridge and then a minor offshoot. With the Zanesville Bridge each leg looks to be approximately equal to the other legs (in width and capacity, not length).
The Steinerne Brücke bridge appears to allow cars entering the bridge from any direction to end up at two different destinations. Of course the minor span is entirely over land and built for much less traffic than the main span. This is more of a T bridge, than a Y bridge….
I bet there are many examples of T bridges, particularly ones that are not over water, freeway off ramps for instance.
I agree, this is the only true y bridge, the others are jokes.
Hi myquealer and Pat,
As I said, the Zanesville bridge is a very nice example. In particular as it appears to be very symmetric both in shape and usage. In that sense it is unique if not proven false. The other samples shown here are either only functionally (like the T-shaped Aioi) or only shape wise y-bridges. So I would not mind to call it the prettiest one or what ever. But if you like to put the others down, remember that a lot of things will be called “Y-shape” and not even symmetric (i.e. the Y-cable for some USB-disks).
I think any of these samples have something that makes it special and worth to be mentioned here.
Werner, I wasn’t putting your examples down. They are nice examples of other bridges which require the uniqueness of the Zanesville bridge to be further refined, just as the pedestrian Y bridge posted does. Two of your examples are much more worthy contenders than the second and third in the original post.
Given all the bridges in the world I would be surprised if there is not another bridge out there which is functionally equivalent to the Zanesville Bridge, I just haven’t seen it yet.
The Y-Bridge in fact does have a traffic light in the middle.
To myquealer: Sorry if I missunderstood your words, maybe because English isn’t my mothers tongue (in fact, she can’t speak it at all), so please take my apologize for being somewhat rude.
This is to James…
I grew up in Zanesville, lived there for 22 years in fact…and I drove across the Y bridge many times. If you are headed East on route 40 (also known as main street in that part of z-ville) and you make a left hand turn on the bridge, then you are essentially still on the same side of the river (west side) but you will be headed north on Linden ave (skating rink from my youth is on lindin!). By turning right from the middle of the bridge, you contine heading East. Hope that helps!
I also go to the University of Akron. The bridge mentioned here goes into North Hill, and towards the South end of it, splits into 2. I would say the Zanesville one is a true Y shaped bridge, while the one in Akron just splits because of the one way streets which the 2 ends of the bridge connect to.
I am from Zanesville. Never was I taught, hear or read, that this was the only Y bridge in the world. We claim it to be the only Y-bridge in the US. This is completely different from any other bridge in the US for the simple fact that you have to turn either left or right when crossing the bridge–not vear one direction or the other.
I don’t see the comparison. The Zanesville Y-bridge is the only one of them that crosses water. So I don’t understand why the other ones are so “cool”
I’m From Zanesville, so I see that First bridge almost Daily!!! # 7 is Right!!! There is a traffic light in the center!!! But It’s Nothing Unique!!! It’s Pretty Boring!!!
I’m originally from Zanesville, so i see that first Bridge almost Everyday!!! Honestly it’s nothing Unique!!! And #7 is right!!! There is a traffic Light in the Center of the bridge!!!
Zanesville’s Y Bridge crosses the Muskingum and Licking Rivers. There are 3 traffic light sets one for each span, or direction of travel because you have to make a turn in the middle, no matter which span you are on. This is a true bridge, all over water.
The Triborough bridge in New York City uses ramps instead of a traffic light (and is admittedly made of multiple spans), but has a functionality similar to the Y-bridge in Zanesville. You can cross from Manhattan to the Bronx or Queens, from Queens to the Bronx or Manhattan, and from the Bronx to Manhattan or Queens.