Yeah actually, this is just more proof that the modern educational system stinks on ice. Canals and canal bridges have been around since Roman imperial times for crying all night. The Erie Canal built in the first two decades of the 19th Century has several 'canal bridges' that go over natural low spots/creeks/rivers for the reason that to descend to the natural surface and then come back up on the other side would require two sets of locks and a towpath bridge for the mules pulling the boats. Easier to just make a canal bridge with built in towpath. A canal bridge on the other hand allowed the mules pulling the boat to just keep plodding along.
The really big canal bridge in the UK is a world famous landmark and was built back in the days when the frequent rains of the UK would make land transport impassable for six months of the year while a canal bridge worked great in both seasons. In summer rain caused no problems and on the rare occasions it got too cold for the water to flow the canal became a perfect pathway for sleighs running on skies over the ice. IIRC the famous canal bridge in the UK had a windmill powered pump to lift river water from the valley up to the bridge level to keep the canal full despite the minor leaks caused by the long bridge and the wind effects that would sometimes curl droplets out of the canal.
As a matter of fact during WW II the UK canal system was reopened as a strategic asset by the federal government because a canal boat is incredibly fuel efficient compared to a truck in moving people and materials from point A to B if a canal is along that route.
UK Canals WW IIHere is one from the Second Erie Canal from the Rochester NY public library collection, yes that is a self propelled canal barge coming towards the camera around the curve of the bridge.
In the so called wisdom of the 20th century the Genessee river Aqueduct in Rochester was converted into a road and rail bridge,
WIKIIn a similar fashion the Erie and Fort Wayne canal in Toledo Ohio was filled in a a WPA project during the Great depression and renamed the Anthony Wayne Trail, a roadway that has constant problems with subsidence because it was built as a federal jobs program instead of being properly engineered.
LINKY