3 1 4 big bridges (social studies)

Bridges Are Not All AlikeWhen a new bridge is built, excitement fills the air.. Long ago, people made bridges out of rope... Next, people built stone or wood bridges.. Some stone bridges

by Elizabeth West

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: McEntee Design and Art

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Owaki-Kulla/CORBIS 1 © PhotoDisc 2 Photo by Rutahsa Adventures,

www.rutahsa.com 3 © Roland Gerth/zefa/Corbis 4 Thomas L French Jr., Columbus, Georgia 4–5 © PhotoDisc

5 © CORBIS 6–7 © PhotoDisc 7 © Wolfgang Kaehler/CORBIS 8 © Owaki-Kulla/CORBIS 8–9 © PhotoDisc 9 Richard T Nowitz/National Geographic/Getty Images 10 Peter J Eckel/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images 10–11 © PhotoDisc Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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Printed in China

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02126-3

ISBN-10: 0-547-02126-7

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Bridges Are Not All Alike

When a new bridge is built,

excitement fills the air Why? Every bridge changes lives Bridges let people

go new places Bridges save travel time Bridges can be small or big They can be wood, stone, iron, or steel

Long ago, people made bridges out of rope.

Why Build a Bridge?

People need bridges They use them

to cross rivers and valleys

Long ago, bridges were very simple People would stretch a log across a

stream Then they could cross, balancing carefully as they went

Next, people built stone or wood

bridges These bridges lasted longer, and they were safer, too

Some stone bridges built long ago are

still used today.

Then people started building

railroads Railroads could carry goods They could also take people from place

to place

Trains needed to cross bridges

But trains are very heavy, and the bridges weren’t strong enough to hold them

So people began to build new bridges out of iron Iron bridges were big and strong enough to hold the trains

Horace King helped build more than

100 bridges in and around Georgia.

Building Big Bridges

Building a big bridge is a huge job

A crew of workers builds it But first

someone must plan the bridge No two bridges are alike because each bridge

needs to fit a different kind of place

One place might have a very high tide,

and another might have bad storms

Workers have to work high above the ground

Bridges in Four States

50,000

49,000

31,000

14,300

17,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

Georgia

Georgia New York Ohio Texas

Next, a crew starts making the bridge parts They join sheets of steel, smooth edges, and paint parts Finally, it’s time to put the bridge together

Famous Bridges

The Golden Gate Bridge, California

For years, this was the longest bridge

of its kind Its deck, or road, is high

above the water This lets even large

ships sail into San Francisco Bay On

foggy days, the tops of the tall bridge

towers disappear

The bridge is orange Its paint keeps the steel

safe from the salty air.

The Mackinac Bridge, Michigan

Michigan has two parts

divided by water Once, people had to take a ferry from one part

to the other Now they can drive across this bridge It’s a long

one—five miles long, in fact!

People call this bridge the Mighty Mac.

New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia

This bridge is beautiful It crosses

a gorge, which is a deep, narrow valley Many people visit this part of West

Virginia and take photos of the bridge

The bridge seems to cling to the sides

of the valley.

People call this bridge GWB for short It flies a huge American flag.

George Washington Bridge, New Jersey and New York

This busy bridge connects New Jersey

to New York More than 100 million people cross it each year

TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder

The word “foggy“ describes a kind of

weather Make a word web that describes

other kinds of weather Copy this word

web and add more words.

kinds of weather

foggy

Text to Self Write a paragraph about a

foggy day Describe what it is like outside

Then tell what kind of mood this weather

puts you in.

Write About It

TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use clues to figure out more about the selection

Change the first letter of this word to

balancing

cling

crew

stretch

excitement disappears foggy tide

TARGET VOCABULARY

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02126-3 ISBN-10: 0-547-02126-7

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: M

DRA: 28

Social Studies

Strategy:

Infer/Predict

Word Count: 508

3.1.4 Build Vocabulary