Bridge building as a human activity predates recorded history, and bridges are among the earliest structures described in the historical record. In the fifth century B.C.E. Herodotus reports on a bridge over the Euphrates River made of timber resting on a stone foundation. Roman stone bridges at Segovia (Spain) and Nıˆmes (France) are still standing 2,000 years after their construction. In the Middle Ages, bridge building became the province of specialist monastic orders. Medieval bridges were conceived as places to live, not just as a means of passage from one side of a river to another. London Bridge in 1594 supported 100 houses and shops.

Bridge Engineering

In the nineteenth century, bridge building became a scientific discipline, after a backlash brought about by notorious disasters in which bridges failed to endure mathematically predictable loads. A fascinating 1887 monograph by George L. Vose (1831–1910) reflects the period in which bridge building...