Most visited Tourism Destinations places in Sri Lanka -- Fool's Bridge (Upside Down Bridge) in Ulapane.

     INVERTED DECK BOWSTRING TYPE BRIDGE

The uniqueness of this bridge is the side arches generically found on steel bridges are built at the bottom of the bridge. this is known as the Fool's Bridge or Upside Down Bridge.

Work on this bridge was started in 1903 by the Public Works Department and was opened to the public on 2nd November 1904 by the British. This bridge with arch-shaped structures measured 66.46 meters (216 ft.) in length and 3.08 meters (10 ft.) in width.

Folklore states that when a British high official came to ceremoniously open this bridge and saw that the bridge had been built upside down, the engineer was so embarrassed that he committed suicide.  The British then built another bridge upstream at a later date to replace this bridge. But in reality, it is said that the arch structure at the bottom makes the bridge more load-bearing and not a mistake. Such bridges are called an “INVERTED DECK BOWSTRING TYPE BRIDGE”

After decades of use of this second bridge, a new concrete bridge has been built around 2015. This is said to be the only place where three road bridges over Mahaweli River exist in a single location. Part of a 4th bridge also can be seen very close to the Fool's Bridge (Upside down Bridge).  It is said that when the Mahaweli Project was going on, the Mahaweli Authority started to build a bridge next to the  Bridge but after one side was completed, it was abandoned.