A Bailey bridge is a type of portable,

pre-fabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some research ...

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

for military use during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A Bailey bridge has the advantages of requiring no special tools or heavy equipment to assemble. The wood and steel bridge elements were small and light enough to be carried in trucks and lifted into place by hand, without the use of a crane. These bridges were strong enough to carry tanks. Bailey bridges continue to be used extensively in civil engineering construction projects and to provide temporary crossings for pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Design

The success of the Bailey bridge was due to the simplicity of the fabrication and assembly of its modular components, combined with the ability to erect and deploy sections with a minimum of assistance from

heavy equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

. Many previous designs for military bridges required cranes to lift the pre-assembled bridge and lower it into place. The Bailey parts were made of standard

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

s, and were simple enough that parts made at a number of different factories were interchangeable. Each individual part could be carried by a small number of men, enabling army engineers to move more easily and quickly, in preparing the way for troops and

materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...

advancing behind them. The modular design allowed engineers to build each bridge to be as long and as strong as needed, doubling or tripling the supportive side panels, or on the roadbed sections. The basic bridge consists of three main parts. The bridge's strength is provided by the panels on the sides. The panels are , , cross-braced rectangles that each weigh , and can be lifted by four men. The panel was constructed of welded steel. The top and bottom chord of each panel had interlocking male and female lugs into which engineers could insert panel connecting pins. The floor of the bridge consists of a number of transoms that run across the bridge, with stringers running between them, and over the top of the transoms, forming a square. Transoms rest on the lower chord of the panels, and clamps hold them together. Stringers are placed atop the completed structural frame, and wood planking (chesses) are placed atop the stringers to provide a roadbed. Ribands bolt the planking to the stringers. Later in the war, the wooden planking was covered by steel plates, which were more resistant to damage from tank tracks. Each unit constructed in this fashion creates a single section of bridge, with a roadbed. After one section is complete it is typically pushed forward over rollers on the bridgehead, and another section built behind it. The two are then connected together with pins pounded into holes in the corners of the panels. For added strength up to three panels (and transoms) can be bolted on either side of the bridge. Another solution is to stack the panels vertically. With three panels across and two high, the Bailey Bridge can support tanks over a . Footways can be installed on the outside of the side-panels. The side-panels form an effective barrier between foot and vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians to safely use the bridge. A useful feature of the Bailey bridge is its ability to be launched from one side of a gap, without a need for any equipment or personnel on the far bank. In this system the front-most portion of the bridge is angled up with short "launch-links" to form a "launching nose" and most of the bridge is left without the roadbed and ribands. The bridge is placed on rollers and simply pushed across the gap, using manpower or a truck or tracked vehicle, at which point the roller is removed (with the help of jacks) and the ribands and roadbed installed, along with any additional panels and transoms that might be needed. During WWII, Bailey bridge parts were made by companies with little experience of this kind of engineering. Although the parts were simple, they had to be precisely manufactured to fit correctly, so they were assembled into a test jig at each factory to verify this. To do this efficiently, newly manufactured parts would be continuously added to the test bridge, while at the same time the far end of the test bridge was continuously dismantled and the parts dispatched to the end-users.

History

Donald Bailey was a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

who tinkered with model bridges as a hobby. He had proposed an early prototype for a Bailey bridge before the war in 1936, but the idea was not acted upon. Bailey drew an original proposal for the bridge on the back of an envelope in 1940. On 14 February 1941, the Ministry of Supply requested that Bailey have a full-scale prototype completed by 1 May. Work on the bridge was completed with particular support from Ralph Freeman. The design was tested at the Experimental Bridging Establishment (EBE), in

Christchurch, Dorset Christchurch () is a town and civil parish on the south coast of Dorset, England. The parish had a population of 31,372 in 2021. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part of the Historic counties of England, hist ...

, with several parts from Braithwaite & Co., beginning in December 1940 and ending in 1941. The first prototype was tested in 1941. For early tests, the bridge was laid across a field, about above the ground, and several Mark V tanks were filled with

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

and stacked upon each other. The prototype of this was used to span Mother Siller's Channel, which cuts through the nearby Stanpit Marshes, an area of marshland at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the River Avon and the River Stour. It remains there () as a functioning bridge. Full production began in July 1941. Thousands of workers and over 650 firms, including

Littlewoods Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased compe ...

, were engaged in making the bridge, with production eventually rising to 25,000 bridge panels a month. The first Bailey bridges were in military service by December 1941, Bridges in the other formats were built, temporarily, to cross the Avon and Stour in the meadows nearby. After successful development and testing, the bridge was taken into service by the Corps of Royal Engineers and first used in North Africa in 1942. The original design violated a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

on the Callender-Hamilton bridge. The designer of that bridge, A. M. Hamilton, successfully applied to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors. The Bailey Bridge was more easily constructed, but less portable than the Hamilton bridge. Hamilton was awarded £4,000 in 1936 by the War Office for the use of his early bridges and the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded him £10,000 in 1954 for the use, mainly in Asia, of his later bridges.

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel was awarded £500 for infringement on the design of his box girder bridge, the Martel bridge. Bailey was later

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed for his invention, and awarded £12,000.

Use in the Second World War

The first operational Bailey bridge during the

was built by 237 Field Company R.E. over

Medjerda River The Medjerda River (), the classical antiquity, classical Bagradas, is a river in North Africa flowing from northeast Algeria through Tunisia before emptying into the Gulf of Tunis and Lake of Tunis. With a length of , it is the longest river of ...

near Medjez el Bab in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on the night of 26 November 1942. The first Bailey bridge built under fire was constructed at Leonforte by members of the 3rd Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers. The Americans soon adopted the Bailey bridge technique, calling it the Portable Panel Bridge. In early 1942, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

initially awarded contracts to the Detroit Steel Products Company, the American Elevator Company and the Commercial Shearing and Stamping Company, and later several others. The Bailey provided a solution to the problem of German and Italian armies destroying bridges as they retreated. By the end of the war, the US Fifth Army and British 8th Army had built over 3,000 Bailey bridges in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

alone, totaling over of bridge, at an average length of . One Bailey, built to replace the Sangro River bridge in Italy, spanned . Another on the

Chindwin River The Chindwin River (), also known as the Ningthi River (), is a river in Myanmar and is the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy River. Sources The Chindwin originates in the broad Hukawng Valley of Kachin State of Burma, roughly , where the Tanai, ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, spanned . Such long bridges required support from either piers or pontoons. A number of bridges were available by 1944 for

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, when production was accelerated. The US also licensed the design and started rapid construction for their own use. A Bailey Bridge constructed over the River Rhine at

Rees, Germany Rees () is a town in the Kleve (district), district of Kleve in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Rhine, approximately 20 km east of Kleve. The population in 2005 was 22,559. Founded in 1228 ...

, in 1945 by the

Royal Canadian Engineers The Canadian Military Engineers (CME; ) is the military engineering personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces. The members of the branch that wear army uniform comprise the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE; ). The mission of the Canadia ...

was named "Blackfriars Bridge", and, at 558 m (1814 ft) including the ramps at each end, was then the longest Bailey bridge ever constructed. In all, over 600 firms were involved in the making of over 200 miles of bridges composing of 500,000 tons, or 700,000 panels of bridging during the war. At least 2,500 Bailey bridges were built in Italy, and another 2,000 elsewhere.

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

wrote in 1947:

Post-war applications

The Skylark launch tower at Woomera was built up of Bailey bridge components. In the years immediately following World War II, the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission purchased huge amounts of war-surplus Bailey bridging from the Canadian War Assets Corporation. The commission used bridging in an office building. Over 200,000 tons of bridging were used in a hydroelectric project. The Ontario government was, several years after World War II, the largest holder of Bailey Bridging components. After World War II and especially post

Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and Sou ...

in 1954, some of the bridging was used to construct replacement bridges in the Toronto area: * 16th Avenue Bailey Bridge c. 1945 * Lake Shore Boulevard Bailey Bridge was built in 1952 for Ontario Hydro * Old Finch Avenue Bailey Bridge, built by the 2nd Field Engineer Regiment, is the last still in use. The longest Bailey bridge was put into service in October 1975. This , two-lane bridge crossed the Derwent River at

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, Australia. The Bailey bridge was in use until the reconstruction of the

Tasman Bridge The Tasman Bridge is a prestressed concrete girder bridge connecting the Tasman Highway over the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. When it opened on 29 March 1965, the Tasman was the longest prestressed con ...

was completed on 8 October 1977. Bailey bridges are in regular use throughout the world, particularly as a means of bridging in remote regions. In 2018, the Indian Army erected three new footbridges at Elphinstone Road, a commuter railway station in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, and at Currey Road and Ambivli. These were erected quickly, in response to a stampede some months earlier, where 23 people died. The

uses Bailey Bridges in construction projects, including an emergency replacement bridge on the Hana Highway in Hawaii. Two temporary Bailey bridges have been used on the northern span of the Dufferin Street bridges in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

since 2014. The first Bailey Bridge built for civilian use in India was on the Pamba river in a place called Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of the state of Kerala. It was on 1996 November 08. In 2017 the

Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...

built a Bailey bridge to replace a road bridge across the Cabry River, in County Donegal, after the original bridge was destroyed in floods. In 2021 a Bailey bridge was built across the river Dijle in Rijmenam (Belgium) for the transportation of excavated soil from one side to the other of the river. The bridge allowed the trucks to cross the river without having to pass the city center. In March 2021, the Michigan Department of Transportation constructed a Bailey bridge on M-30 to temporarily reconnect the highway after the old structure was destroyed in the May 2020 flooding and subsequent failure of the Edenville Dam. The department will replace the temporary bridge with a permanent structure in the coming years. Following the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in the North Island of New Zealand, Bailey bridges were installed to reconnect communities. Following the 2023 floods in Madrid, Spain, the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

is set to build a Bailey bridge in the village of Aldea del Fresno. In 2024, following the catastrophic landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad district, the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

build a 190 feet Bailey bridge in the village of Mundakkai. In 2025, during 2025 Bahía Blanca floods,

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

installed two Bailey bridges to reconnect the two halves of the city.

Gallery

File:"Don't tell me there's anything the engineers can't do. We built bridges where bridges couldn't be built. We built... - NARA - 535980.tif, US troops launching a Bailey bridge across a gap by hand File:The British Army in Italy 1944 NA17848.jpg, Bailey bridge over the River Arno,

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, built on the piers of the original Ponte Santa Trinita (August 1944) File:French barges support Bailey bridging over the Seine at Mantes.jpg, Barges being used to support Bailey bridging over the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

Mantes Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, f ...

, France, August 1944 File:Engineers slide bailey bridging into place at Wesel.jpg, U.S.

combat engineer A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, Tunnel warfare, tunnel and l ...

s slide stacked doubled sections of Bailey bridging into place at

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

on the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

in Germany (c. 1945) File:Sherman-river-Garigliano-IWM NA 11067.jpg, A Sherman tank and a Jeep ferried across the river Garigliano, central Italy, using a raft constructed from pontoons and a section of Bailey bridge (January 1944) File:119th Armored Engineer Battalion Wurzburg fortress Baily Bridge.jpg, Bailey bridge built over bombed out bridge at base of Marienberg Fortress in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

by the 119th Armored Engineer Battalion of the U.S. 12th Armored Division, April 1945 File:Bailey bridge, Wadi el Kuf, Libya.JPG, Bailey bridge over the Wadi el Kuf,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, with bridge sections used to construct the supports (2007) File:Sudan Juba bridge.jpg, Juba Nile Bridge over the

White Nile The White Nile ( ') is a river in Africa, the minor of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the larger being the Blue Nile. The name "White" comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. In the stri ...

Juba, South Sudan Juba is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the most recently declared national capital and had a population of 525,953 in 20 ...

(1975) File:Whitefish Falls Ontario.jpg, Bailey bridge at Whitefish Falls, Ontario, Canada (2006) File:Combat engineers inspect a bridge on Route Arnhem in Iraq.jpg,

Combat engineer A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, Tunnel warfare, tunnel and l ...

s inspect a bridge on Route Arnhem in Iraq (2009) File:Bailey Bridge 7.jpg, Construction of Bailey bridge in 1970 File:Bailey-Coppename River.jpg, Bailey bridge over the Coppename River at Bitagron, Suriname (1976) File:BaileyBridge.jpg, Bailey bridge serving as a pedestrian/bike lane in Nijlen (Belgium) File:The_British_Army_in_Burma_1944_SE835.jpg, The bridge over the Chindwin, in Burma, nearing completion in 1944. (The sections were constructed on a tributary and floated downstream on pontoons.) File:Bailey bridge barge.webp, 3D sketch of a bailey bridge barge dock being developed by China to potentially invade Taiwan

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Bailey Bridges in New Zealand

Animated build of a modern Mabey Compact 200 Bridge (similar to the original Bailey Bridge)

US Army Field Manual FM5-277
Dated 9 May 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey Bridge Portable bridges Truss bridges by type Bridges by structural type Military bridging equipment English inventions