Cantilever bridge

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Cantilever bridge

The Pierre Pflimlin Bridge is a balanced cantilever made of concrete, shown here under construction.
Ancestor	Beam bridge, truss bridge
Related	None
Descendant	Swing bridge
Carries	Pedestrians, automobiles, trucks, light rail, heavy rail
Span range	Medium
Material	Iron, structural steel, prestressed concrete
Movable	No
Design effort	Medium
Falsework required	Very little to none

A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from structural steel, or box girders built from prestressed concrete.

The steel truss cantilever bridge was a major engineering breakthrough when first put into practice, as it can span distances of over 1,500 feet (450 m), and can be more easily constructed at difficult crossings by virtue of using little or no falsework.