engineering

High Bridge of Kentucky

High Bridge of Kentucky is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand High Bridge of Kentucky rather than just read about it. In short: The High Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades, in Kentucky. The bridge, about 275 feet over the river below, connects Jessamine and Mercer counties.

Key takeaways

High Bridge of Kentucky belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect High Bridge of Kentucky to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of High Bridge of Kentucky from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The High Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades, in Kentucky. The bridge, about 275 feet over the river below, connects Jessamine and Mercer counties. It was formally dedicated in 1879, and is the first cantilever bridge built in the United States. It has a three-span continuous under-deck truss, which is used by Norfolk Southern Railway to carry trains between Lexington and Danville. The High Bridge is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

History

In 1851, the Lexington & Danville Railroad, with Julius Adams as chief engineer, retained John A. Roebling (who later designed the Brooklyn Bridge) to build a railroad suspension bridge across the Kentucky River for a line connecting Lexington and Danville, Kentucky, west of the confluence of the Dix and Kentucky rivers. In 1855, the company ran out of money, having built only stone towers and anchorages. The project was resumed by the Cincinnati Southern Railway in 1873 following a proposal by C. Shaler Smith for an innovative cantilever design, using Roebling's stone towers as anchors. The bridge was erected with a three-span continuous under-deck truss, and was opened in 1877. It was 275 feet (84 m) tall and 1,125 feet (343 m) long: the tallest bridge above a navigable waterway in North America and the tallest railroad bridge in the world until the early 20th century. Construction was completed using 3,654,280 pounds of iron at a total cost of $404,373.31. In 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman attended the dedication. Around 1908, Kentucky River High Bridge and the surrounding area was a popular destination for local Kentucky artist Paul Sawyier. Sawyier made many friends living in the area and the landscape was the subject of many of his famous paintings. In addition to making many friends with local residents, he met the love of his life, Mary Thomas (Mayme) Bull during her travels to the Kentucky River area. She became the subject of one of his paintings in 1908, ‘Portrait of Mayme Bull in River Landscape’. After years of heavy railroad use, the bridge was rebuilt by Gustav Lindenthal in 1911. Lindenthal reinforced the foundations and rebuilt the bridge around the original structure. To keep railroad traffic flowing, the track deck was raised by 30 feet during construction and a temporary trestle was constructed. In 1929, an additional set of tracks was built to accommodate increased railroad traffic and the original limestone towers were removed. Although the last passenger train was withdrawn from this route in 1970, the bridge continues to be used by Norfolk Southern freight trains. The bridge site can be reached by road via Kentucky State Route 29. In 2005 state and county officials jointly reopened a nearby park which had been closed since the mid-1960s. This included a restored open-air dance pavilion, first used in the 19th century; as well as a new playground, picnic area, and viewing platform that overlooks the bridge and river's edge from the top of the palisades.

See also List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Kentucky List of bridges in the United States by height

References

External links Media related to High Bridge of Kentucky at Wikimedia Commons High Bridge at Bridges & Tunnels Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. KY-37, "High Bridge"

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with High Bridge of Kentucky

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what High Bridge of Kentucky claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to High Bridge of Kentucky before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about High Bridge of Kentucky ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of High Bridge of Kentucky

In research: High Bridge of Kentucky appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses High Bridge of Kentucky in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: High Bridge of Kentucky is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1877 establishments in Kentucky, Bridges completed in 1877, Bridges over the Kentucky River, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for High Bridge of Kentucky outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study High Bridge of Kentucky in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what High Bridge of Kentucky means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain High Bridge of Kentucky out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is High Bridge of Kentucky in simple terms?

The High Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades, in Kentucky. The bridge, about 275 feet over the river below, connects Jessamine and Mercer counties.

Why does High Bridge of Kentucky matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study High Bridge of Kentucky?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on High Bridge of Kentucky.