My pick of the week this week is an online version of a book by the Port Authority of New York used to tell the story of the Bayonne Bridge, over the Kill van Kull between Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey. (Click here to access the book)

The Bayonne Bridge is the fifth longest steel arch bridge in the world. The book is part of an archive material put online by Princeton University to support students enrolled in the course Engineering in the Modern World.

This resource was sent to me by our friends at the ICE. In the words of Carol Reese, of the ICE’s Heritage and History Committee, “It’s a remarkable work, as well, and the photos and illustrations contained within are an engineering historian’s dream.”

From an engineering student’s point of view, the bridges around New York City and Newark are a fascinating set of examples steel construction. If you are interested in understanding more about how these structures work, then you can have a go at creating your own structural model using our Catastrophe game.