Answer
32 ft
Work Step by Step
The length of the bridge is 136 ft, so each half of the bridge is 68 ft. The space between the endpoints of the bridge remains the same at 136 ft, with a gap in the middle of 16 ft. Dividing this per side, that would mean that half the raised bridge would be over (136 - 16) ÷ 2 ft, or 60 ft.
68 ft will form the hypotenuse, with 60 ft and x ft forming the legs of the right triangle. We solve for x to find the height the bridge is raised.
x2 + 60$^{2}$ = 68$^{2}$
Subtract 60$^{2}$ from each side
x$^{2}$ = 68$^{2}$ - 60$^{2}$
x$^{2}$ = 4624 - 3600
x$^{2}$ = 1024
x = 32
