ABSTRACT
Iran has 1,648,000 km2 of land area and is home to over 70 million people. Its rugged mountainous landscape has made road building very costly and dicult, requiring tunnels and bridges in most parts. It has 66,000 km of asphalt-paved roadway and over 5,000 km of railway (MRT 2008). „ere are more than 316,000 roadway and 21,000 railway bridges in the country. Most of the roadway bridges are of short spans. It is estimated that the number of roadway bridges with spans over 10 m is only 6500, and less than half of that have a span over 20 m (MRT 2008). Roadway and bridge building has a long history in Iran. A brief chronological review of this art and technology is given below in three parts: ancient times from the dawn of civilization to the seventh century AD, the Middle Ages and beyond covering bridge construction to the beginning of the twentieth century, and Šnally the modern era.
