Building an arch bridge in Minecraft

A stone bridge is made of a few repeating parts: arch, pier, deck. What makes it hard is the curve of the arches and the transitions where the deck rises. VoxShaper assembles the bridge from your dimensions and shows you every layer.

Arches and piers

Arches sets how often the arch repeats. Span is the clear width of one arch, rise its height above the springing. Up to half the span you get a flat segmental arch, at exactly half a round arch. With more height it is stretched, and the pointed arch slider gives it a Gothic point.

Pier width applies to the piers between the arches and to the abutments at both ends. Pier height lifts the arches: the bridge over a stream becomes a viaduct across a valley. The whole bridge is at most 257 blocks long.

Deck, hump and ramp

Crown thickness is the masonry between the top of the arch and the deck. Hump raises the middle of the deck, as on medieval bridges. Ramp adds a slope at each end that runs down to the ground. With ramp 0 the bridge ends vertically, which fits between two cliffs.

Parapet

As a parapet, walls or fences stand on the two edge rows and follow the deck over hump and ramps. The edge rows are always made of full blocks for that. The connections of the walls and fences are already in the file.

Stairs and slabs

With slabs the deck climbs ramp and hump in half steps and can be walked without jumping. Under the arches, upside-down stairs round off the curve.

Build or export

Rebuild the bridge layer by layer or download it as a schematic for Litematica, WorldEdit or the Structure Block. Rotate it when you paste it in the game.