Awhile back I was listening to the podcast Hello Internet when to my delight, the subject of favorite bridges came up. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the hosts discuss their favorites, and based on the Twitter response to the episode, many other listeners did too.

For me, it raised the question - why do so many of us love bridges? Why the visceral response to the signature bridges of the world?

I’ve been asked many times why I like bridges and I’m generally a bit at a loss for words. I like bridges because…I love bridges! It’s just a gut-level fact. But when pressed to quantify my affection, I usually say that it’s because all the engineering is on display. The fundamental workings are right there for you to see, not hidden behind facades and bulkheads and aesthetic treatments as in our sister industry. If a bridge appears elegant, if it has “good bridginess,” I think it’s usually because the engineering itself is elegant.

I suspect there are also myriad intangible reasons for liking a particular bridge. The symbolism of connecting two disparate places. Memories of what we were doing and who we were with when we happened across a particular bridge. And surely each of us have a few special bridges where we recall the satisfaction of triumphing over design challenges.

In short, that podcast prompted me to create my own list of favorites (the only rule being that I had to have physically visited the bridge.) After racking my brain and whittling down my list I arrived at four favorite bridges.