the.com/viaduct
a bridge that refuses to admit it's just a really committed wall
means a long bridge-like structure, usually a series of arches or spans, that carries a road or railway across a valley or low ground
from From Latin via 'way, road' plus a coined ending modeled on aqueduct (aqua 'water' + ductus 'a leading'). So while an aqueduct leads water, a viaduct leads the road — a 19th-century word built by engineers who wanted their railway-arches to sound as grand as Roman waterworks.
- name origin
- from Latin via plus aqueduct, coined around 1816
- vs bridge
- crosses dry land or valleys, not just water
- roman ancestors
- some 2000-year-old arches still carry traffic today
- longest one
- China's Danyang–Kunshan runs 102 miles
- arch math
- repeated spans spread weight, defying gravity cheaply
for instance
millau viaduct — world's tallest bridge at 343 meters, spans the tarn valley in southern france
pont du gard — roman aqueduct viaduct in southern france standing 49 meters tall, built around 50 ad