Table bridge
Moveable bridge in which the deck moves along the vertical axis
A table bridge is a moveable bridge in which the deck moves vertically. Two or four hydraulic pillars under the bridge, one or two at each end, raise the bridge deck to allow boat traffic to pass beneath it. In contrast to a lift bridge, where the deck is pulled upwards along towers, the deck of a table bridge is pushed upwards by otherwise hidden pillars. The name originates from the fact that when open it resembles a table.
The total space required by a table bridge is hardly larger than the bridge deck, which is not the case with a retractable bridge. Unlike a lift bridge this type has only slight visual impact upon its surroundings when closed for use by road traffic. This is very well demonstrated by the Pont levant Notre Dame at Tournai in Belgium.
01Examples of table bridges
Several rivers and waterways are home to multiple examples of table bridges. These include:
- Erie Canal in New York between Lockport and the Genesee River is home to one of the largest collection of table bridges
- Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between the Judge Perez Bridge in Louisiana and the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Texas (including Bayou Lafourche and Bayou Terrebonne in Louisiana) features several table bridges
- Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario; both table bridges and bobtail swing bridges are located along its entire length
- Multiple road bridges in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
02A table bridge in operation
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Table bridge”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- MovableBridge table.gif by Y_tambe, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Table Bridge Combined.JPG by Original uploader was Daniel at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
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