Editing Roman bridge (section)

{{Short description|Bridges built by ancient Romans}}
{{About||a list|List of Roman bridges|the railway station in Wales|Roman Bridge railway station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Puente Romano y Puente de Lusitania, Mérida.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Puente Romano, Mérida]], the world's longest (still in use) surviving Roman bridge]]
The [[ancient Romans]] were the first civilization to build large, permanent [[bridges]].<ref>{{harvnb|O'Connor|1993|p=1}}</ref> Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] [[immigrants]], but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as [[arch]]es and [[keystones]]. There were three major types of '''Roman bridge''': wooden, pontoon, and stone. Early Roman bridges were wooden, but by the 2nd century BC stone was being used. Stone bridges used the arch as their [[Arch bridge|basic structure]], and most used [[Roman concrete|concrete]], the first use of this material in bridge-building.