A wide bridge may require an arch so tall as to become a significant obstacle and incline for the roadway.

Where simple arched bridges are used for railways on flat terrain the cost of building long approach embankments may be considerable.

Arch bridges generate large side thrusts on their footings and so may require a solid bedrock foundation.

Flattening the arch shape to avoid the humpback problem, such as for Brunel's Maidenhead bridge, increases this side thrust.

As well as tying the side-loads of the arch, the tension member is also at a convenient height to form the bridge deck, as for a through-arch.

Although visually similar, tied- and untied- through-arch bridges are quite distinct structurally and are unrelated in how they distribute their loads.

In some cases, this type of arch has been created by constructing cantilevers from each side, with the shoreside ends bolted securely down into heavy piers.

This type of construction was used in the Sydney Harbour Bridge illustrated above, with the supporting cables to the higher side of the arches removed after completion.