A1 - Weldon

The goal of this bridge design is that it will be able to span the canyon for the cheapest cost possible using a truss design. I made my bridge in the shape I did because it is able to incorporate the most number of triangles possible in a compact design. The design uses intersecting triangles to help give the bridge the most possible strength.

During my design process the initial design of the bridge involved only large triangles with no small triangles present. I had to added bars to certain area to hold the bridge together and insure failure didn't occur. I tried building the bridge at different heights, from the road to the top part of the bridge, and didn't find a large difference.
The current cost of my bridge is at $408,247.96. I believe with further time I would be able to discovery better arrangements of triangles that would require the use of less material. If I had more knowledge of trusses and what arrangements work best for certain designs, I would easily be able to build a strong and cheap bridge design.
What I learned from designing the bridge is that extremely large and extremely small triangles don't work best, but instead a size in the middle. Also putting as many triangles as you can in a build isn't efficient either because the bridge may be strong, but the price will be enormous. I figure that intersecting triangles are the best strength to cost ratio.