Floating the removed western leaf of the Lake Street bridge in Chicago down the river for demolition

I just recently drove across this railroad bridge! It was a historic railroad bridge and was converted to a single lane road toll bridge by a farmer in the 1960s. I didn't even realize it was an old rail bridge until a week later. I thought you all might enjoy 360 4K VR driving tour video of me crossing. Enjoy! Get the full 360 view by watching in YouTube!

https://youtu.be/8FgmHV3bL8Y

Crossing the Cannonball iron truss bridge over the Wabash River from Lawrence County, Illinois (near St. Francisville, IL) to Knox County, Indiana (near Vincennes, IN).

#bridge #ironbridge #FreeBridge #TrussBridge #Historical #southernindiana #southernillinois #wabashriver

Bridge over the Great South Bay, Long Island New York

Teessides iconic Transporter Bridge

Outlined in the images attached is a feature that's almost always present in Victorian bridges - most specifically girder type bridges transitioning to a viaduct either side.

It's the top part of what is usually a slightly projecting pier/pilaster built onto the side of the bridge abutment. It's essentially decorative, providing a visual stop-end to the bridge/viaduct junction and usually hiding the end of the girder which sits on a bearing just behind it. They usually look very substantial from the front but this top part, the part that sits above the level of the track is often quite slim front-to-back. Sometimes they have a kind of L-shape in plan, forming a sort of pocket behind that the girder end sits in.

Although they seem to have almost always been part of the original design, actually not many of them survive in their original form, presumably because with the passage of time they become seen as serving no useful purpose and a maintenance headache. So very often they are either removed completely or simplified to blank stubs of brickwork.

But do they have a proper name? What would you call them? Abutment parapets? Abutment pilaster-tops?

I'm looking for a term that describes specifically that top part, not the whole pier from ground level up. The bit I've outlined in red in all the images.

This is a view of the grounds at Kings College in Cambridge.

Which is just a long bridge?

Between Falmouth and Truro

Built in 1910, this bridge was to connect Cordova Alaska to the Copper Mines further north up the river. Its now inaccessible by car as the railroad past it wasn't maintained and the highway from Cordova has since washed out. Its flanked by two glaciers and features a campground still being maintained, at least back in 2024 when I got the picture.

The large steel pier shown was used to lift the span back up after an earthquake dropped the span into the water.

Some picture of my recent trip to the Cheongna Haneul Bridge in Incheon, Korea.

Surprise occupants spotted whilst the bridge was being lowered!

Trafford road bridge about half an hour before kick off (Utd v Spurs)