Institute for Transportation

Timber bridges in South America predate the 19th
century. This paper provides an introduction of the
many types of timber bridges currently used in South
America. The five basic types used, which are, the
longitudinal beam, frame, truss, arch and suspension
superstructures, are presented. Research on new bridge
designs, using tropical and reforestation wood species,
has been developed in the Laboratory of Wood and
Timber Structures, Sao Paulo University in Brazil, on
prestressed timber bridge and decks composed with
two diagonal layers of sawn wood connected with
wood dowels over composed longitudinal beams. We
will construct the first prestressed timber bridge in
South America in this year using Eucalyptus Citriodora
specie.