Bridging

The Bailey Bridge was designed by a British Royal Engineer named Sir Donald Bailey on a napkin over lunch in 1941. He was trying to create a bridge that was simple enough to be built strictly by manpower in a minimal amount of time.

Bailey bridges are a pre-engineered bridging system that is built on site out of ready-to-assemble components. Each component is made of steel and are interchangeable allowing the bridge to be made like a giant errector set. Below is a picture of each of the components to of the bailey bridge.

Each component of the bridge is either pinned or bolted togather allowing for fast assembly. An 80 foot gap can be bridged in a matter of two to three hours with this system. Since the parts are not welded togather the bridge is also reuseable. This allows for a bridge to be built, vehicles to cross the gap, and then disassembled and rebuilt over another crossing.

The bailey bridge may also be assembled in a variety of different ways to efficiently accomodate a wide range of span and capacity requirements. Below is a diagram of the various ways the bridge may be assembled.