How to read, but not necessarily name, a cantilever bridge
Most large bridges—cable stay, suspension, steel truss, and some concrete arch bridges—are built by the cantilever method. Concrete piers (and often towers) are constructed in a river or chasm, and structural members are gradually extended (cantilevered) in opposite directions from each. This keeps loads balanced during construction, and allows work to proceed from built areas toward unrealized portions of the span. Eventually, the cantilevers from the two piers/towers meet each other in the middle, and the shores at opposite ends.
When completed, cable stay, suspension, and concrete arch bridges do not function as cantilever systems and are instead known by their respective labels. But when a steel truss bridge is built by the cantilever method, it usually functions as a cantilever structure and is permanently classified as such. But oddly, even those steel truss bridges built by the cantilever method that do not behave as cantilever structures are permanently classified as cantilever bridges.
