The Romans pioneered the building of arch bridges, which with their familiar parabolic shape allowed for longer spans than beam bridges.  Because the reach of the beam bridge is limited, arch bridges provide a natural mechanism for spanning greater distances.  Gravity holds the elements of the bridge in place as they are pressed against each other by the downward force.  Stone was an apt material for arch bridges due to is compressive strength.  Two basic types of stone arches exist: the corbel arch, created by stones or bricks laid on top of each other in a kind of stairway formation, and the voussoir arch (the "true arch"), based on the parabolic placement of like-sized components. 
    
     Elizabeth Mock, in her book The Architecture of Bridges, writes that "it was in stone that the building of bridges became a conscious art . . . " Steel arch bridges do not employ the voussoirs. Stone arch bridges are the oldest of the arch bridges, as early engineers made use of this available material.  However, there is an aesthetic appeal to the use of stone, and stone was used even in the twentieth century in construction of some very beautiful and important bridges.  Stone as a material handles the massive compressive forces acting on the bridge.  To the extent that concrete is comprised of sand and gravel, they are included here as "stone" arch bridges, though might be considered separately.  For other websites featuring a particular state's stone arch bridges, see, e.g., Connecticut, Minnesota and New York. 

     The bridges featured here include the Arlington Memorial Bridge (1926-32) linking Washington, D.C. to Arlington, Virginia (and symbolically, "North" to "South")  is 2,163 feet long and composed of granite and concrete.  For further information see the National Park Service site for this bridge.  The Ponte Cestio Bridge (originally built 1st Century B.C., subsequently rebuilt) crosses the Tiber River in Rome, Italy to Trastevere.  It is named for its Lucius Cestius.  See The Bridges and the Tiber Island.  In addition to stone, arch bridges were also fabricated from wrought or cast iron as well as steel.  The Bayonne Bridge in Bayonne, New Jersey is now the third longest steel arch bridge in the world.  With a 1,675 foot center span, it ranks just ahead of the Sidney Harbor Bridge.  Constructed between 1928 and 1931, it was designed by Othmar Ammann, chief engineer of the New York Port Authority.  The Roosevelt Lake Bridge adjacent to the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona is a single-span, 1,080 feet long bridge that opened to traffic in 1990.  Designed by prominent engineer Othmar Ammann and his one-time mentor, Gustav Lindenthal, the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City, carries railroad traffic from Queen's to Ward's Island and then into the Bronx.  It was opened in 1917.  The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge across the Delaware River between Palmyra, New Jersey and Tacony, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia, is a combined steel arch and bascule bridge.  It is 3,659 feet long and opened to traffic in 1929.        

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