Bridges have reshaped transportation and societal connection, comparable in impact to the invention of the wheel and sea-worthy vessels. Millions of bridges worldwide carry billions of crossings daily, often unnoticed amid modern distractions. Bridges create physical and social pressures, sparking conflicts over connected communities, redirected traffic, and ownership. Structural failures and images of snapped cables or collapses underscore bridge vulnerability. Some bridges overcome natural challenges to link distant places. Bridge-building occurs in nature as well; certain ant colonies form living bridges by linking bodies, and experiments probe why groups choose to span gaps rather than detour. Collective effort enables structures beyond individual capability.
Humanity puts a lot of pressure on bridges - physically and metaphorically. There are millions of bridges all over the world. Billions of people cross over them every day, but with radios blaring or podcasts playing, many of us might not even notice how often we traverse them. Connecting communities has been appropriated as a cliché catchline for countless marketing campaigns, but the reality is that not all bridges receive a warm welcome.
Conflicts over the communities connected by bridges, the traffic they redirect, and who owns bridges have plagued countless elevated pathways for millennia. Beyond that, images of snapped cables, suicide nets, and collapsed structures can circulate worldwide within a matter of seconds in the modern world - reminding us of the precariousness of the roads we travel and what's beneath them.
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