Great Bridges of the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard was built by the Romans but the exact date remains a mystery (some say in 1st century BC and some say in 1st century AD). It is hugely impressive though, with 3 tiers of arches and reaches a height of approx 50m. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. In a country boasting many spectacular tourist attractions, Pont du Gard ranked Number 5 in 2001 with 1.4 million visitors.

Barbegal aqueduct is in France, Eifel in Germany and Valens in Turkey. All were built by the Romans.

Answer: Tower Bridge

In the second half of the 19th century road traffic was growing rapidly requiring an additional river crossing but the London Docklands and its river borne traffic were also still flourishing (the peak year for the Docklands in terms of tonnage handled would not be reached until 1964).

A competition to find an appropriate solution was launched in 1876 but it wasn't until 1884 that a winning design was approved. Construction started in 1886 and it finally opened on 30th June 1894. Although commercial river traffic has diminished enormously with the decline of the Docklands (prior to its subsequent rebirth as a financial centre) the bascules are still raised about 1000 times per year.

Answer: Sydney Harbour Bridge

Like many of the major construction projects around the world there was an extremely long lead time between concept and reality. There had been plans dated back as far as 1815 but it wasn't until 1900 that a design competition was launched. A formal proposal was accepted in 1911, John Bradfield became chief engineer in 1912 but his plans were delayed by the onset on World War I. Construction started in 1923 but it wasn't until 19th March 1932 that the bridge finally opened. With the completion of the beautiful and iconic Sydney Opera House, opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October 1973, the vista of Sydney Harbour from the bridge itself is now one of the great sights of the world.

Hells Gate Bridge across the East River in New York City was said to be the inspiration for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The view of Wards and Randalls Island from Hells Gate Bridge is spectacularly unspectacular.

Answer: Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883, the Manhattan Bridge in 1909 and the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903. If you want to remember geographically what order they go in from south to north as they go up the East River then just remember the car company; BMW. The George Washington Bridge (opened in 1931) is on the other i.e. western side of New York City.

Answer: Kobe and Iwaya

The Akashi Strait was previously only serviced by ferries but often experienced violent storms making the waters dangerous to operate in. In 1955 there was a ferry disaster which resulted in 168 deaths, many of them children. This provided the impetus for designing a bridge. Construction of the bridge finally started in 1986. It involved 2 million workers, 181,000 tonnes of steel and 1.4million cubic metres of concrete. The steel cable used would circle the world seven times!

It has been designed to withstand winds of 286kmh (178mph) and earthquakes up to 8.5 on the Richter Scale (the Great Hanshin or Kobe earthquake of 1995 had its epicentre beneath Awaji Island). The Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge is considered by some people as Japan's greatest engineering feat.

Answer: Abraham Darby III

The bridge caused a village to be named Ironbridge and the surrounding area is now known as Ironbridge Gorge. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986 and there is a nice museum there now.

Answer: True

The George Washington Bridge (or GWB) opened in 1931 and spans the Hudson River on the North West side of New York City. If you ever have to drive across it, be prepared to be patient... According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it carried more than 107 million vehicles in 2007 (approx 300,000 per day).

The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge was started in 1933 and completed in 1937. It was a remarkable achievement for financial, as well as engineering, reasons. It was the time of the Great Depression, making funding difficult, and the Bay Bridge was being built at the same time. Luckily for us, and largely thanks to the persistence of bridge builder Joseph Strauss, it was completed and in 1999 it was ranked 5th on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects the New York Boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It was opened in 1964 and took over the title of the longest suspension bridge in the world (from the Golden Gate Bridge). The Humber Bridge (in the UK) took away this title in 1981 but was itself superceded by the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (in Japan) in 1998. The Verrazano Bridge though remains the longest suspension bridge in the USA. It is well known to runners as being the first mile of the New York Marathon course. The combined effect of more than 35,000 runners bounding along makes the bridge seem to 'bounce'.

Answer: Allenby

The original 'Allenby' bridge was built in 1918 but was destroyed during the Jewish resistance to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1946 and again during the Arab-Israeli Six Day War of 1967. A new structure was built during the 1990s.

Edmund Allenby was most known for his exploits as Commander-in-Chief of the Egypt Expeditionary Force (EEF) in World War I against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. Allenby also supported the guerilla war efforts of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), a British officer who fought with the Hashemite Arabs under Faisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi against the Ottoman Empire.

Answer: Zambezi

A parabolic arch design, the bridge is 198m long with a main arch of approx 150m. The most spectacular element though is the height and the backdrop. It is fully 128m above the Zambezi river at the bottom of the gorge below and is just downstream from the magnificent Victoria (or Mosi-oa-Tunya in Zambia) Falls. The Victoria Falls are considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World (although to be fair there is no official list) and the whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The bridge may not be a good idea if you suffer from vertigo but for adrenalin junkies there is a bungee jumping operation which lets you fall an incredible 111m!

Answer: Rialto Bridge

There had been various wooden bridges across the Grand Canal for hundreds of years before a stone bridge was built in the 16th century. It took only 3 years to construct and was opened in 1591. It remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854.

Many famous and well known architects such as Palladio, Vignola and Sansovino submitted designs but Antonio de Ponte's was chosen. It was one of the first long, low arch bridges of the European Renaissance period and has stood the test of time. It is now one of the major tourist attractions in Venice, the city described by Luigi Barzini as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man".