What is the Purpose of a Bridge

A bridge to nothing - significance, purpose and diversity

We all know that bridging is being done to link riversides, high mountain ranges over gorges, to unite towns and countries, and to enable quicker and simpler transportation through harsh or remote landscapes. But all over the globe there are a number of viaducts that don't go to... anything. "What on earth is there to build a bridge that leads nowhere?

A bridge to nowhere is by default a bridge where one or both ends are imperfect or corrupted so that the bridge itself leads nowhere. No matter what the cause of their futility, most of them were once conceived and constructed as important landmarks in local transport infrastructures, but today are deserted or have totally and forever forfeited their purpose, apart from entertaining casual patrons or drawing stickographers.

Just to name a few of the peculiarities that rise above the New Yalu River, a splendid bridge should symbolise China's and North Korea's progressive relationship and help raise funds for free circulation areas in this common country venture. Yet, regardless of the costs of 2. 2 billion $330 million, the bridge was only partly concluded a few years back.

Today, this two-lane bridge overlooks the desert as an empty but impressing frontier monument on the China side, although it has been left by the China tribe and unfortunately forsaken. The bridge over a span on the northern side of Korea ends without any signs of building work and certainly not without incoming and outgoing air travel.

The Garry Bridge on the Isle of Lewis is another notable, but unfortunately senseless, cement arcade, a permanent relic of the past that aims to connect Tolsa and Ness. The Garry Bridge, a walking symbol, is set in the midst of bogland and itself, although scenically charming, is unlikely to fulfil its purpose.

The bridge also exists in Argentina, in the center of the motorway about 200 km of the National 9 Motorway, which was planned and constructed to link the village towns, unfortunately the bridge never got a street on either side. The Tempe Bridge, also known as the Ash Bridge, is on the southern side of Tempe Town and over the once free-flowing Salt River.

Dated as early as 1911, when it was finished with jail work from Florence in Arizona, the bridge was already outdated and too small for two carriageways. It itself was torn down in the early 90' and all that remains of the bridge is a blunt structure enclosed by contemporary amenities.

There is another strange bridge to nowhere lurking in the woods of New Zealand's Whanganui National Parks. This bridge superseded a much smaller timber bridge that allowed entry to a colony of troops returning home after the First World War, but by the 1940' everyone had disappeared from the area and the woods had taken over all parts of the country except for the bridge that attracted the attention of hikers and was a stopover for native birdlife.

But we will stop here, because everything is just under the bridge.