Chain bridge

Chain bridge
Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest
AncestorSuspension bridge

A chain bridge is a historic form of suspension bridge for which chains or eyebars were used instead of wire ropes to carry the bridge deck. A famous example is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest.

Construction types are, as for other suspension bridges, a stressed ribbon bridge, a true suspension bridge, and special forms, such as the Tower Bridge and the Albert Bridge, London.

Chain bridges were the first bridges able to cross wider spans than the previous wooden and stone bridges, combined with shorter building times and at lower costs.[1]

  1. ^ Robert Stevenson: Description of Bridges of Suspension. In: The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, ed. Sir David Brewster, Robert Jameson. vol. 5 no. 10, Edinburgh 1821, p. 237.