India’s root bridges

Post on the Blog of the Long now, India’s Living Bridges, is about traditional bridges grown from roots in Northeast India.  Check out the 4:30-min clip and the link to more images on Atlas Obscura’s website (a site that’s definitely worth a look).

The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they’re extraordinarily strong – strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time. In fact, because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time – and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over 500 years old.