Viaduct

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The Ribblehead Viaduct lies on the Settle-Carlisle Railway in England.

A viaduct is bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the latin via for road and ductus to conduct something. However the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se, it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early viaducts comprised a series of arches of roughly equal length. Viaducts may span land or water.

Many viaducts over land connect points of similar height in a landscape, usually by bridging a river valley or other eroded opening in an otherwise flat area. Often such valleys have roads descending either side (with a small bridge over the river, where necessary) that become inadequate for the traffic load, necessitating a viaduct for through traffic.<ref>Brownlee, Christy (March 2005) "Taking the high road: France's new bridge helps a small town dodge traffic--and set a new world record" SuperScience 16(6): pp.12-15;</ref> Such bridges also lend themselves for use by rail traffic, which requires straighter and flatter routes.<ref>Davidsen, Judith (April 1993) "A new "lite" rail viaduct formula: Norman Foster designs a rapid-transit viaduct for Rennes, France" Architectural Record 181(4): p.26;</ref>

Viaducts over water are often combined with other types of bridges or tunnels to cross navigable waters. The viaduct sections, while less expensive to design and build than tunnels or bridges with larger spans, typically lack sufficient horizontal and vertical clearance for large ships.