Ask students to speculate about why some bridges were more or less successful than others. Students who enjoyed this activity can try a more challenging level by increasing the span to more than 25 centimeters. Back to Top Rather than requiring students to do their own research on bridge engineering, provide students with a few basic plans to choose from in constructing their bridges. Back to Top 1. Describe where tension and compression occur on each type of bridge.
Many bridges are icons for their city or region.
Compare and contrast a beam bridge and an arch bridge. List at least three ways they are similar and three ways they are different. The U.S. government requires states to inspect and rate all bridges at least once every two years. Describe ways that technology can be used to make monitoring and inspection of bridges more efficient and effective. The earthquake in October 1989 in the San Francisco Bay area caused great structural damage to many of the bridges in the area.