viaduct

railway viaductTassagh railway viaduct, Keady, Armagh (historical County Armagh, Ulster province), Northern Ireland.

viaduct, type of long bridge or series of bridges, usually supported by a series of arches or on spans between tall towers. The purpose of a viaduct is to carry a road or railway over water, a valley, or another road. The viaduct is both functionally and etymologically related to the aqueduct, which carries water; both were developed by Roman engineers.

The long spans of Roman viaducts were supported by semicircular arches resting on piers of stone or masonry. A well-preserved example is the span over the Tagus River at Alcantara, Spain (c. 105 ce). The next advance in viaduct construction did not occur until the late 18th-century development of iron bridges and the 19th-century introduction of steel.

In the early 20th century the spread of reinforced-concrete construction led to the building of concrete arch structures. A recent method used on long viaducts is segmental construction. The sections are precast and jacked forward from one end of the viaduct to form the extension.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.