Footbridge

A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian

overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge
designed solely for pedestrians.[1] While the primary
meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points
at a height above the ground", a footbridge can also be a
lower structure, such as a boardwalk, that enables
pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land.[2]
Bridges range from stepping stones–possibly the earliest
man-made structure to "bridge" water–to elaborate steel
structures. Another early bridge would have been simply a
fallen tree. In some cases a footbridge can be both
functional and artistic.

For rural communities in the developing world, a

footbridge may be a community's only access to medical
clinics, schools, businesses and markets. Simple
suspension bridge designs have been developed to be Wooden footbridge with a worker busy at its
sustainable and easily constructed in such areas using only consolidation, in Laos
local materials and labor.

An enclosed footbridge between two buildings is

sometimes known as a skyway. Bridges providing for both
pedestrians and cyclists are often referred to as
greenbridges and form an important part of a sustainable
transport system.

Footbridges are often situated to allow pedestrians to cross

water or railways in areas where there are no nearby
roads. They are also located across roads to let pedestrians
cross safely without slowing traffic. The latter is a type of
pedestrian separation structure, examples of which are A footbridge in Shaharah District, Yemen
particularly found near schools.

Contents
Early history
Design
Types
Railways
Catwalk
In developing countries
Long footbridges
Other footbridges
Advantages
Disadvantages
Gallery
See also
References
External links

Early history
The simplest type of a bridge is stepping stones, so this may have
been one of the earliest types of footbridge. Neolithic people also
built a form of a boardwalk across marshes, of which the Sweet
Track, and the Post Track are examples from England, that are
around 6000 years old.[3] Undoubtedly ancient peoples would also
have used log bridges; that is a timber bridge[4] that fall naturally or
are intentionally felled or placed across streams. Some of the first
man-made bridges with significant span were probably intentionally
felled trees.[5]
Stepping stones, across the River
Rothay, in the Lake District, England
Among the oldest timber bridges is the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-
Hurden crossing upper Lake Zürich in Switzerland; the prehistoric
timber piles discovered to the west of the Seedamm date back to
1523 B.C. The first wooden footbridge led across Lake Zürich, followed by several reconstructions at least
until the late 2nd century AD, when the Roman Empire built a 6-metre-wide (20 ft) wooden bridge.
Between 1358 and 1360, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, built a 'new' wooden bridge across the lake that has
been used to 1878 – measuring approximately 1,450 metres (4,760 ft) in length and 4 metres (13 ft)
wide. On April 6, 2001, the reconstructed wooden footbridge was opened, being the longest wooden
bridge in Switzerland.

A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of Devon (Dartmoor and Exmoor) and
in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Yorkshire
and Lancashire. It is formed by large flat slabs of stone, often granite or schist, supported on stone piers
(across rivers), or resting on the banks of streams. Although often credited with prehistoric origin, most
were erected in medieval times, and some in later centuries.[6] A famous example is found in the village
of Postbridge. First recorded in the 14th century, the bridge is believed to have been originally built in
the 13th century to enable pack horses to cross the river. Nowadays clapper bridges are only used as
footbridges.

The Kapellbrücke is a 204-metre-long (669 ft) footbridge crossing the River Reuss in the city of Lucerne
in Switzerland. It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, and one of Switzerland's main tourist
attractions. The bridge was originally built c. 1365[7] as part of Lucerne's fortifications.

An early example of a skyway is the Vasari Corridor, an elevated, enclosed passageway in Florence,
central Italy, which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of
the Palazzo Vecchio, it then joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno
dei Archibusieri and then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the river at Ponte
Vecchio. It was built in five months by order of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici in 1565, to the design of
Giorgio Vasari.
Bank Bridge is a famous 25 metre long pedestrian bridge crossing the Griboedov Canal in Saint
Petersburg, Russia. Like other bridges across the canal, the existing structure dates from 1826. The
special popularity of the bridge was gained through angular sculptures of four winged lions crowning the
abutments. They were designed by sculptor Pavel Sokolov (1764-1835), who also contributed lions for
Bridge of Lions.

Design
Design of footbridges normally follows the same principles as for other bridges. However, because they
are normally significantly lighter than vehicular bridges, they are more vulnerable to vibration and
therefore dynamics effects are often given more attention in design.[8] International attention has been
drawn to this issue in recent years by problems on the Pont de Solférino in Paris and the Millennium
Bridge in London.

To ensure footbridges are accessible to disabled and other mobility-impaired people, careful
consideration is nowadays also given to provision of access lifts or ramps, as required by relevant
legislation (e.g. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the UK).[8] Some old bridges in Venice are now
equipped with a stairlift so that residents with a disability can cross them.

Types
Types of footbridges include:

Beam Bridge
Boardwalk
Clapper bridge
Duckboards, Timber trackway, Plank road, and Corduroy road
Moon bridge
Simple suspension bridge
Simple truss
Stepping stones
Zig-zag bridge

The residential-scale footbridges all span a short distance and can be

used for a broad range of applications. Complicated engineering is
not needed and the footbridges are built with readily available
materials and basic tools.[9] A simple French footbridge

Different types of design footbridges include:

Timber footbridges
Steel footbridges
Concrete footbridge

Footbridges can also be built in the same ways as road or rail bridges; particularly suspension bridges
and beam bridges. Some former road bridges have had their traffic diverted to alternative crossings and
have become pedestrian bridges; examples in the UK include The Iron Bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire,
the Old Bridge at Pontypridd and Windsor Bridge at Windsor, Berkshire.
Most footbridges are equipped with guard rails to reduce the risk of pedestrians falling. Where they pass
over busy roads or railways, they may also include a fence or other such barrier to prevent pedestrians
from jumping, or throwing projectiles onto the traffic below.

Railways

It was originally usual for passengers to cross from one railway

platform to another by stepping over the tracks, but from the mid-
19th century onwards safety demanded the provision of a footbridge
(or underpass) at busier places. However, in some quieter areas,
crossing the line by walking over the tracks is possible.

Catwalk
Tilak Nagar Station in Mumbai Narrow footbridges or walkways to allow workers access to parts of a
structure otherwise difficult to reach are referred as catwalks or
cat walks.[10] Such catwalks are located above a stage (theater
catwalk) in a theater, between parts of a building, along the side of a bridge, on the inside of a tunnel, on
the outside of any large storage tank in a refinery or elsewhere, etc. The walkway on the outside (top) of a
railroad cars such as boxcars, before air brakes came into use, or on top of some covered hopper cars is
also called a catwalk.[11] With the exception of those on top of railroad cars, catwalks are equipped with
railings or handrails.

In developing countries
Since the early 1980s, several charities have developed standardized
footbridge designs that are sustainable for use in developing
countries. The first charity to develop such designs was Helvetas,
located in Zurich, Switzerland.[12] Designs that can be sustainably
and efficiently used in developing countries are typically made
available to the public gratis.

Long footbridges
Helvetas-type footbridge in
The record for the longest footbridge in the world was claimed by Rubaksa, Ethiopia
then New York State Governor David Paterson in an Oct. 3, 2009
Poughkeepsie Journal article about The Walkway Poughkeepsie
Bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York.[13] On July 22, 2017, the Champlain Bridge
Ice Structure (French: l'Estacade Champlain, a bridge built for bicycles and foot traffic only to parallel
the Champlain Bridge from Brossard, Quebec west to Nun's Island (L'ile Des Soeurs) & the Island of
Montreal, was measured by a calibrated device as being 7,512 feet (2,292 meters) long or 1.4227 miles or
2.292km, starting and ending where the treadway rises above the ground and a pedestrian could access
the bridge as close as possible to the St Lawrence River.

The Walkway Over The Hudson footbridge was originally built for trains, it was recently restored as a
pedestrian walkway. The footbridge has a total length of 2,063 meters (6,768 feet). Before it was
demolished in 2011, the Hornibrook Bridge which crossed Bramble Bay in Queensland, Australia was
longer than the Poughkeepsie Bridge at 2.8 km (1.7 mi).[14]
Other footbridges
The Bank Bridge and the Bridge of Four Lions in Saint
Petersburg
The Big Dam Bridge between Little Rock and North Little Rock,
Arkansas
The Big Four Bridge between Louisville, Kentucky and
Jeffersonville, Indiana
The Capilano Suspension Bridge in British Columbia A section of the Poughkeepsie
The Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis, Missouri Bridge, New York State, USA.
The Corktown Footbridge in Ottawa
The Davenport Skybridge in Davenport, Iowa
The Dunlop Bridge at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, Sarthe,
France
The Esplanade Riel in Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, London, England
The Goodwill Bridge at Brisbane, Australia
the Gorkha Bridge in the Gorkha District of Nepal
The Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, Ireland
The Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, London,
England
The Jade Belt Bridge in the Summer Palace in Beijing
The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha, Nebraska
The Kingsgate Bridge in Durham, England
The Liberty Bridge at Falls Park on the Reedy in Greenville,
South Carolina
The Millennium Bridge and the high-level walkways in Tower
Bridge in London
The Matagarup Bridge in Perth, Western Australia
The Mishima Skywalk in Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan
The Newport Southbank Bridge between Newport, Kentucky and
Cincinnati
The Pont des Arts in Paris
The Ponte Milvio in Rome
The Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome
The Pushkinsky and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Pedestrian bridges in
Moscow
The Rolling Bridge at Paddington Basin, London
The St Elmo Bridge in Valletta, Malta
The Southbank footbridge in Southbank, Victoria
The Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee
The Tournament Bridge* The Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco,
Texas
The pedestrian walkway over the Tropicana – Las Vegas
Boulevard intersection in Paradise, Nevada
 The Walnut Street Bridges in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and
Chattanooga, Tennessee
The Webb bridge in the Melbourne Docklands
The Willimantic Footbridge in Willimantic, Connecticut

Advantages
Much rural travel takes place on local footpaths, tracks and village roads. These provide essential access
to water, firewood, farm plots and the classified road network. Communities and/or local government
are generally responsible for this infrastructure.[15]

Disadvantages
Pedestrian overpasses over highways or railroads are expensive, especially when elevators or long ramps
for wheelchair users are required. Without elevators or ramps, people with mobility handicaps will not
be able to use the structure. People may prefer to walk across a busy road rather than climb a bridge. It is
recommended that overpasses should only be used where the number of users justify the costs.[16]

Narrow, enclosed structures can result in perceptions of low personal security among users. Wider
structures and good lighting can help reduce this.[17]

Gallery
 Boardwalk across the The BP Pedestrian A stressed ribbon
High Fens, Ardenne, Bridge is a concealed bridge for pedestrians,
Belgium box girder beam bridge bicycles, and pipelines
in Millennium Park, in Grants Pass, Oregon
Chicago.

A footbridge to an Melbourne's Sandridge The Puente de la Mujer in Puerto

orthodox church in Greece Bridge which Madero is a footbridge and swing
overpasses the Yarra bridge.
River.

A pedestrian overcross in A footbridge over the A footbridge with four elevators

Nanjing Road, Shanghai. Fujikawa (Fuji) river at on each corner of a four-way
Suruga in Shizuoka intersection in Tokyo.
Prefecture in Japan.
 Tamchog Chakzam bridge, Bhutan A footbridge over a A footbridge for hikers in
canal in Venice. Washington state's Mount
Baker-Snoqualmie
National Forest, USA.

The "Ypsilon" Y- MMDA Footbridge in

Footbridge, Wooden footbridge in
bridge in EDSA, Quezon City,
part of the Vang Vieng, Laos. Drammen, Metro Manila,
Appalachian
Norway. Philippines.
Trail, USA.

Matagarup Bridge from the railway bridge (Perth, Australia)

See also
Footpath
Garden Bridge, London, England
Hoogholtje bridge, Netherlands
Pedestrian separation structure (overpass)
Pedway
Walkway and Canopy walkway
Wildlife crossing

References
 1. Oxford English Dictionary
2. Oxford English Dictionary
3. Brunning, Richard (February 2001). "The Somerset Levels". Current Archaeology. Current
Archaeology. XV (4) (172 (Special issue on Wetlands)): 139–143.
4. National Parks Conference, Department of the Interior (1915). Proceedings of the National parks
conference held at Berkeley, California March 11, 12, and 13, 1915 (https://archive.org/details/procee
dingsnati01confgoog). Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 60 (https://archive.org/details/pro
ceedingsnati01confgoog/page/n443). Retrieved March 14, 2010. "(A log bridge) is a bridge
composed of log beams, the logs being in natural condition or hewn, which are thrown across two
abutments, and over which traffic may pass."
5. Bennett, David (2000). "The history and development of bridges" (https://books.google.com/books?id
=8PGk81gtCywC&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=9). In Ryall, M. J.; Parke, G.A.R.; Harding, J.E.
(eds.). The manual of bridge engineering (https://books.google.com/books?id=8PGk81gtCywC)
(Google books). London: Thomas Telford. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7277-2774-9. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
6. "A Guide to the Archaeology of Dartmoor" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081006185810/http://www.
dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/au-arch.pdf) (PDF). Dartmoor National Park Authority. 2003. p. 27. ISBN 1-
84114-226-3. Archived from the original (http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/au-arch.pdf) (PDF) on 6
October 2008.
7. "Vor 20 Jahren brannte die Kapellbrücke" (http://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/nachrichten/zentralschweiz/
luzern/Vor-20-Jahren-brannte-die-Kapellbruecke;art92,283526). Luzerner Zeitung (in German).
Lucerne, Switzerland. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 2017-06-02.
8. Schlaich, Mike, et al., Guidelines for the Design of Footbridges, International Federation for
Structural Concrete, 2005, ISBN 2-88394-072-X
9. Jeswald, P. (2005). How to build paths, steps & Footbridges. North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey
Publishing.
10. "Negligence Petroleum storage tank exploded" (http://www.boothkoskoff.com/wp-content/uploads/20
13/01/leavitt2.pdf) (PDF). July 2000.
11. "catwalk" (http://www.webster-dictionary.net/definition/catwalk). webster-dictionary.net. Retrieved
10 April 2015.
12. [1] (http://www.helvetas.ch/nepal/wEnglish/projects/TBSU/tbsu.asp?navid=16) Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20120503094258/http://www.helvetas.ch/nepal/wEnglish/projects/TBSU/tbsu.asp?n
avid=16) May 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
13. "WALKWAY OPENS, THOUSANDS EXPLORE UNIQUE STATE PARK" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20150402111932/http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091003%
2FQUAD%2F91003006). Poughkeepsie Journal. Poughkeepsie, New York. October 3, 2009.
Archived from the original (http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2009100
3/QUAD/91003006) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
14. "Final Curtain for the Hornibrook Highway" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110706113432/http://north
side-chronicle.whereilive.com.au/your-news/story/final-curtain-for-the-hornibrook-highway/).
15. Dennis, R. (2004). "Foot Bridges" (http://www.ittransport.co.uk/documents/footbridge%20brochure.pd
f). Retrieved June 25, 2010 Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070715122545/http://www.ittran
sport.co.uk/documents/footbridge%20brochure.pdf) July 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
16. "Pedestrian Overpasses/Underpasses" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130604031027/http://www.wa
lkinginfo.org/engineering/crossings-overpasses.cfm). Pedestrian Bicycle Information Center.
Archived from the original (http://www.walkinginfo.org/engineering/crossings-overpasses.cfm) on
2013-06-04. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
17. Rory Renfro (June 2007). "Pedestrian/Bicycle Overcrossings: Lessons Learned" (http://web.pdx.ed
u/%7Ejdill/Files/Renfro_Bike-Ped_Overcrossings_Report.pdf) (PDF). Archived (https://web.archive.o
rg/web/20100609173100/http://web.pdx.edu/%7Ejdill/Files/Renfro_Bike-Ped_Overcrossings_Report.
pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2010-06-09.
External links
How To Build a Footbridge (http://www.redwoodbridges.com/build_footbridge.html)
Timber Pedestrian Bridge Images (https://www.ybc.com/timber-bridge-project-gallery/pedestrian-brid
ge-gallery/)

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