much of the beauty and appeal of the bridge is its appearance of floating (from many profile views up and downstream on both banks of the gently winding river). that is owed to its strung-bow shape and its light placement at its very tips upon modest granite abutments — a feature rare among more modern tied-arch bridges. these abutments bear the passive vertical load of the open structure itself. however, the varying 'live' thrust forces of traffic downward on its deck are translated by the bowed chord above into horizontal tensions along the longitudinal iron eyebars of the 'string' or bottom chord running parallel to the deck.