Really Long Bridge

ESTELA SILVA/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN

The world’s longest pedestrian bridge has opened in Arouca, Portugal. It offers some amazing views—if you’re brave enough to walk across. Called the 516 Arouca, the narrow suspension bridge stretches 516 meters (1,693 feet) across a river valley.

The bridge is held up by two thick steel cables, which are connected to towers on each side of the valley. Thinner vertical cables connect to the walkway below. The weight of the bridge puts tension, a stretching force, on the cables.

As people cross, the bridge swings a little bit under their feet. That flexibility is part of the design, says Paul Endres, an architect at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It allows the suspension bridge to withstand strong winds, temperature changes, and the weight of people moving across it without breaking.

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