Truss Bridges Popularity

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Why are truss bridges less common today? Trusses are much less commonly used than they were a hundred years ago. Based on your experience and videos, why is that?

Though truss bridges were much popular in the past, many short distance and middle distance bridges are nowadays beam bridges. As the documentary about bridges said, engineers came to realize that truss bridges were very expensive. Many of the great truss bridges will probably never be imitated any time soon because of the cost that they hold. The materials have always been very expensive due to the quantity used in truss bridges, but in the past, labor was not as expensive as it is today, due to the conditions in the early 20th century. Now, in modern times, labor is expensive and thus the total cost of a truss project would be very expensive. Just like the manila folder bridge, the bridge took a rigorous work, compared to a beam bridge which would be much simpler. This is why truss bridges are not as common today, as beam bridges have a lower cost compared to them.