File:US_Army_crossing_the_Rhine_on_heavy_ponton_bridge_at_Worms,_March,_1945.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
pontoon bridge
Sign in to saveAlso known as floating bridge, ponton bridge
bridge that uses floats or shallow-draft boats for support (temporary or permanent)
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, pontoon bridge is referenced by 1,070 other articles, and connects out to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Euphrates and Yom Kippur War.
Vinony files it under Bridges by structural type, Chinese inventions and Commons link from Wikidata.
Its subject is documented across 52 Wikipedia language editions.
Key facts
- Span range
- Short to long
- Material
- Various: steel, concrete, boats, barrels, plastic floats, appropriate decking material
- Movable
- Generally not, but may have movable sections for watercraft passage
- Design effort
- low
- Falsework required
- No
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Evergreen Point Floating Bridge - looking east from bike trail at west high-rise.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Pontoon bridges
- Commons gallery
- Pontoon bridge
- OpenStreetMap tag
- bridge:structure=floating
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry.
Most pontoon bridges are temporary and used in wartime and civil emergencies. There are permanent pontoon bridges in civilian use that can carry highway traffic; generally, the relatively high potential for collapse and sinking (e.g. due to waves and collisions) and high continuous maintenance costs makes pontoons unattractive for most civilian construction. Permanent floating bridges are useful for sheltered water crossings if it is not considered economically feasible to suspend a bridge from anchored piers (such as in deep water). Such bridges can require a section that is elevated or can be raised or removed to allow waterborne traffic to pass. Notable permanent pontoon bridges include the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Hood Canal Bridge, and the Nordhordland Bridge.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “pontoon bridge” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.