- Why Bridges Don’t Sink (practical.engineering)
The essence of a bridge is not just that it goes over something, but that there’s clear space underneath for a river, railway, or road. Maybe this is already obvious to you, but bridges present a unique structural challenge. In a regular road, the forces are transferred directly into the ground. On a bridge, all those forces on the span get concentrated into the piers or abutments on either side. Because of that, bridge substructures are among the strongest engineered systems on the planet. And yet, bridge foundations are built in some of the least ideal places for heavy loading. Rivers and oceans have soft, mucky soils that can’t hold much weight. Plus, obviously, a lot of them are underwater.
- Detroit (Wikipedia)
Detroit (/dɪˈtrɔɪt/ dih-TROYT, locally also /ˈdiːtrɔɪt/) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the most populous U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Regarded as a cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. Time named Detroit as one of the fifty World’s Greatest Places of 2022 to explore.