Leonardo da Vinci designed a swing bridge that could pivot aside to let boats pass along a waterway.
His bridge concept used a rotating span supported on a central pivot. When opened, the bridge would clear the channel; when closed, it would provide a route for people and vehicles. Leonardo also considered counterweights and mechanisms that could make the structure easier to operate.
The design formed part of his work on military and civil engineering. A swing bridge differs from a drawbridge, which usually rises upward, and from a bascule bridge, whose span rotates around a horizontal axis. Leonardo’s proposal was not simply a decorative sketch: it addressed traffic, water transport, and rapid movement across canals or rivers.