World’s Largest Railroad Viaduct
July 31, 2006 | 9 Comments
I was recently contacted by Mary Everett of Greene County, Indiana who wondered about the Greene County Railroad Viaduct. She informed me of area claims which state that the 700m (2,295ft) long, 48m (157ft) high railroad viaduct is the “third largest such structure in the world”. She asked if I was aware of any evidence to support or refute that claim.
To define largest is always somewhat complicated. We could assume this means longest, but that ignores the height. Which of those should we give greater precedence to? To be larger does it need to defeat both or just one? It’s my opinion that beating both makes an obvious winner, but substantially beating in either still makes it “larger”. Additional complexity comes in deciding whether or not to consider width or spans. Finally, what is meant exactly by “such structure.” I assume we are only talking about viaducts used to carry rail. However, what is the difference between a bridge and a viaduct? As far as I can tell, a viaduct is a type of bridge that is multi-span and has to carry vehicles.
With those decision criteria established, I decided to use Wikipedia’s List of Bridges By Length as a starting point. Here is what I found…
The Binhai Mass Transit, Bridge No. 1 in China is 25,800m (84,645ft) long. They do not state how high this bridge is, yet it is without a doubt the longest bridge in the world that carries rail. Finally, the bridge carries two-way commuter rail.
China also has the second longest bridge. The Kam Sheung Road-Tuen Mun viaduct which is part of KCR West Rail in Hong Kong is 13,400m (43,963ft) long. Again, the height of this bridge was not stated. This bridge also carries two-way commuter rail.
To find the third longest rail bridge you need to travel to either Denmark or Sweden as the Oresund Bridge connects these two countries with a length of 7,845m (25,732ft). The only height measurement of the Oresund Bridge given is to say the highest pillar is 204m (669ft). This measurement is not extraordinarily useful in making a judgement since standard traffic runs on an upper level while trains run on a lower deck.
Finally we reach the largest rail bridge in the United States with the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana measuring in at 7,003m (22,996ft) and 41m (135ft) high. This is also a bridge that combines rail and standard traffic. The rail viaduct is much longer and extends elevated into the city of New Orleans.
The list continues on Wikipedia, but at this point it seems clear that the Greene County Railroad Viaduct is stretching to claim third largest such structure. In fact, I’m left wondering which three they specifically are claiming rank above them…
One other bridge you may find from a simple Google search for world’s largest railroad viaduct”. The Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct or Nicholson Bridge is 724m (2,375 ft) in length and 73m (240ft) high. This bridge makes claim to be the World’s Largest Concrete Railroad Bridge. I wasn’t prepared to disprove this as it seems pretty specific.
The Greene County Railroad Viaduct is still a very unique and amazing structure. I was sorry to have to disprove it’s status as the people in the region seem very proud of it. Thanks again to Mary for piquing my curiosities and for sending me along some great pictures of the viaduct.
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Last Chance to See, Revisited
July 7, 2005 | 2 Comments
Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine wrote a book together called Last Chance to See which was an account of their traveling around the world in the mid-80s searching for greatly endangered species.
I’m a big Douglas Adams fan, I loved the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Soon after finishing that I fell into the Dirk Gently books (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and Long Dark Teatime of the Soul). When Adams died in 2001 I was more saddened by his death more than one would expect in reference to someone I didn’t know personally… I then tore through The Salmon of Doubt when it was released post-humously, finding myself in tears as the book ends suddenly about halfway through his final story. Anyway, Salmon turned me on to other works by Adams, Last Chance and the Liff books.
Adams’ humorous and engaging account drew me into thoughts of extinction and conservation leaving me more concerned about the state of our world’s wildlife than I ever intended. So, with this in mind I decided to research each of the near instinct animals they touch on in their adventures. Clearly a combined update was needed on the status of the animals they visited.
Aye-aye Lemur (Daubentonia Madagascariensis)
Status: Endangered - est 1000 to 10,000 (up from 12 in 1962)
Natural Habitat: Madagascar, island of Nosy Mangabe
Additional Resources:
ARKive
Wikipedia - Aye-aye
Animalinfo.org
Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodensis)
Status: Vulnerable - est. 6,000
Natural Habitat: Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia, including the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Motang and Flores
Additional Resources:
American Museum of Natural History
Wikipedia - Komodo Dragon
San Diego Zoo
Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)
Status: Critically Endangered - 380
Natural Habitat: Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa
Additional Resources:
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
Informatics International - Dian Fossey Fund info
Classroom of the Future
Wikipedia - Mountain Gorilla
Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni)
Status: Critically Endangered - 15 (down from 32 in 2003)
Natural Habitat: Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo
Additional Resources:
International Rhino Foundation
UNESCO Word Heritage Centre
San Diego Zoo
Wikipedia - White Rhinoceros
BBC News - White rhino numbers are ‘halved’
Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus)
Status: Critically Endangered - 86 (up from 51 in 1995)
Natural Habitat: New Zealand
Additional Resources:
Kakapo Recovery Programme
The Fabulous Kakapo
New Zealand Department of Conservation
Wikipedia - Kakapo
Chinese River Dolphin or Baiji Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer)
Status: 7 in 1998 (down from 300 in 1986)
Natural Habitat: Yangtze River, China
Additional Resources:
China Internet Information Center - Recovery Effort
Whale Web
CETACEA
Wikipedia - Chinese River Dolphin
Rodrigues fruit-bats (Pteropus rodricensis)
Status: Endangered - est 1500-2000
Natural Habitat: island of Rodrigues (part of Mauritius) off the coast of Madagascar
Additional Resources:
Mauritian Wildlife Foundation
Philadelphia Zoo
Wild Ones Animal Index
Mauritius Island Online
There is more to talk about in reference to Mauritius(dodos, kestrels, pink pigeons, echo parakeets, etc) but I’ll these details until I can devote more space.
For a final note on Last Chance to See, there is a site devoted to the BBC Radio 4 broadcast of the account which is also worth checking out.
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