Brief history of bridges

The first design for a bridge resembling the modern suspension bridge is attributed to Venetian engineer Fausto Veranzio, whose 1595 book Machinae Novae included drawings both for a timber and rope suspension bridge cable-stayed bridge using iron chains
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However, the first suspension bridge actually built was by American engineer  James Finley at Jacob's Creek, in, Pennsylvania, in 1801. Finley's bridge was the first to incorporate all of the necessary components of a suspension bridge.