 |
 |
Bridge Opening and Closing
Name: Megan
Status: Student
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1993
Question:
How does a bridge know when a boat is coming and when to go up?
Replies:
I think that most of them are pretty low technology, in that there is a
human operator standing by to raise the bridge and make sure that traffic is
controlled so that no one tries to drive on the bridge while it is discon-
nected. It would be possible to do the job automatically, but I do not
think it has been done, or at least I have never seen it.
For instance one could have a special frequency on the radio waves to access
the bridge. The boat operator could signal a computer through this radio
frequency that he wanted to go through. The computer could be programmed to
change the stop lights to red so that cars would not pass across the bridge.
The bridge would then rise allowing the boat to pass. The bridge would then
lower when the boat signaled again that it had gone past the bridge
(something that could be programmed into the boat's computer). Then traffic
would continue across the bridge after the bridge's computer changed the
traffic light to green. Of course there would have to be some safe guards
on the system, but I think that it is conceptually feasible to do this with
available technology (if it has not been done already).
D. Munoz
Up-dated: July 2008
Regarding "Bridge Opening and Closing", the asker wants to know how a bridge
knows when a boat is coming.
An answerer stated that it is a *human* that operates drawbridges.
Actually, I know of at least one system in which the bridge is normally up, and
an oncoming train activates lights and sirens and then drops the bridge, bringing
it back up after the train is past. Before and during the dropping of the bridge,
sensors verify that there is no boat traffic, and if any is detected, the process
is halted.
I learned this by talking to a railroad engineer, but such a system is described
in detail here...
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2004/July/Day-19/i16246.htm
I used to do some commercial fishing and some bridges can be raised by calling a
certain radio frequency.
P. Bridges
Click here to return to the Engineering Archives
| |
Update: June 2012
|
|
