Accommodation bridge

These bridges also needed to meet the standards of the canal builder, allowing the towpath through beneath, sufficient clearance for passing boats and being adequately constructed to be robust, without risk of a collapse blocking the canal.

To save costs, the Kennet Navigation, in flat country, used swing bridges rather than arches.

[4] Most accommodation bridges, in the UK at least, were constructed during the railway building boom of the mid-19th century.

[5] British practice avoided level crossings wherever possible, except in the flat parts of the country where building a raised approach to a bridge would be more costly.

[citation needed] Underpasses were relatively rare, except where more convenient in hilly country, as the old track may have followed the land more closely than a gradient-sensitive railway.