Most Beautiful Bridge

[Voyager]

I'm going to have to go with the Golden Gate Bridge, of course.

Which ones are your favorites?

[Chris]

I think the Ravenel Bridge near Charleston, SC is very impressive:


As is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge near St. Petersburg, FL


But the Mackinac Bridge near Mackinac, MI is also extremely beautiful, I can't seem to make up my mind


pics taken from wikipedia

[deathtopumpkins]

Either the GWB or Delaware Memorial bridge here. I'm a sucker for suspensions.

Though I think that either the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston or the Eugene Talmadge Bridge (Route 17) [Thanks Alex!] in Savannah, GA (can't recall the actual name of it) come in in close second because I like cable-stayed too... And third maybe the new Central Artery bridge on I-93 in Boston... And now I just really can't make up my mind. 

[FLRoads]

In my biased opinion, the Sunshine Skyway is my pick.  But to be honest, I prefer the old design (cantilever) over the new one (cable-stayed).  In the two images below one is a postcard of mine depicting the old spans (before the tragic accident May 9, 1980) and after.  The other is a picture I took on one of my many trips across the Skyway.  This picture was taken November 8, 2008.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Alex]

Either the GWB or Delaware Memorial bridge here. I'm a sucker for suspensions.

Though I think that either the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston or the Route 17 bridge in Savannah, GA (can't recall the actual name of it) come in in close second because I like cable-stayed too... And third maybe the new Central Artery bridge on I-93 in Boston... And now I just really can't make up my mind. 

Thats the Eugene Talmadge Bridge in Savannah (U.S. 17)



Its similar in design to the Sid Lanier Bridge (U.S. 17) near Brunswick.

[Ian]

I would have to say the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, PA/Camden, NJ. It looks really neat at night.

I.C.

[deathtopumpkins]

Nice shot! Love the lighting...

[Wikigav]

Hmm, to give this an international flavour i cant go past my hometown bias and go Sydney Harbour Bridge. But i also extremely like the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridges. The Golden Gate is beautiful, especially those ones where it is half covered in fog.

[agentsteel53]

that is an excellent Golden Gate Bridge photo!

I dunno if this is the most beautiful bridge ever (probably not), but this is my favorite bridge photo I've ever taken:



this bridge is on state route 132 in the central valley of California.  It's from 1923, I think.  The photo was taken with an IR filter.

[Voyager]

Wait you don't mean you took that in 1923, right? Btw, I love IR photos.

[deathtopumpkins]

I think he meant the bridge was from '23! 

[agentsteel53]

haha yes, the bridge is from 1923.  The photo is from June '07!

Good to see another fan of IR photography.  Do you take IR photos, voyager?  I use a Nikon D50 with a W87 filter (780mm cutoff).  About 11 stops loss.

[yacoded]

I would have to say the Fremont Bridge in Portland, it's nice and a double decker, but also the Woodrow Wilson (I-495 Capital Beltway) is nice, it's different compared to a normal interstate bridge but fits in with the arch bridges of DC.

[Scott5114]

Never seen it in person but judging from photos that bridge at the end of the Big Dig project in Boston looks pretty sweet.

Personally I'm more into thru truss bridges, but I can't think of one I could come out and say "beautiful". My local bypassed truss bridge was probably quite attractive back in its day, but these days it's so bashed up its sufficiency ratings are down into the single digits (no lie) so I can't honestly call it "beautiful".

[agentsteel53]

I'm a big fan of truss bridges, even though they tend to be more difficult to get nice photos of than suspension ones.



old US-10 somewhere in eastern Montana, a mile or two south of I-94.

[DAL764]

Of those bridges I've been to, I'd say the US-17 bridge in Savannah:

And it's clone further south, US-17 in Brunswick:

[Stephane Dumas]

I founded these pics on another forum, here the Golden Ears bridge in the Lower Fraser Valley in BC currently under construction

Jacques-Cartier bridge in Montreal

the Quebec bridge and Pierre-Laporte bridge

Lions Gate bridge in Vancouver

[vdeane]

I like the Thousand Islands Bridge.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[us44mt]

They are not huge, but the 2 suspension bridges in the Mid Hudson, the Bear Mountain and the Mid Hudson, are favorites of mine. The Mid Hudson looks quite good at night since the lighting has been added.  

[agentsteel53]

I was reminded in another thread of the US-77 bridge in Sioux City, Iowa.



this is the view from the Nebraska side.  US-77 ends on that bridge.

[Voyager]

Outside of the US, my favorite bridges would be a cross between these two:



Hagelsund Bridge in Norway.



Gothenburg Harbor Bridge - Gothenburg Sweden.

[agentsteel53]

the Hagelsund bridge looks very much like the bridge in northern Norway that goes to the island that the town of Hammerfest is on.  I can't remember the name of the bridge or the island, alas.



and here is the Tjeldsund bridge, which is on highway E-10 to the Lofoten Islands.

[Freewayjim]

I think the Ravenel Bridge near Charleston, SC is very impressive:


I think I'd give the nod to the Ravenel, not only for sheer beauty but 8 regular sized lanes is hard to beat on a bridge like that, it's such a joy to drive over. The Fred Hartman Bridge outside of Houston would be a close second in my book.

It's hard though, there are so many bridges I like.

[akotchi]

I am partial to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis, only because I had the pleasure of participating in the annual bridge walk one year -- the eastbound span is closed for the walk -- and was treated to an excellent panorama of Annapolis, the Naval Academy, and the surrounding area.

[Michael]

I like the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge in Rochester (formerly the Troup-Howell bridge).  I have never been over it, but I have been over the old bridge.  I saw this bridge under construction, but I haven't gotten to go over it.

Picture (from Wikipedia page):