Pontoon bridge using a single 'o'. The U.S. military differentiated between the bridge itself ("ponton") and the floats used to provide buoyancy ("pontoon"). The original word was derived from Old French "ponton", from Latin "ponto" ("ferryboat"), from "pons" ("bridge"). When designing a pontoon bridge, the civil engineer must take into consideration the Archimedes' principle: Each pontoon can support a load equal to the mass of the water that it displaces. This load includes the mass of the bridge and the pontoon itself. If the maximum load of a bridge section is exceeded, one or more pontoons become submerged. Flexible connections have to
Pontoon Beach, Illinois Mississippi River from Pontoon Beach. Pontoon Beach, Illinois Pontoon Beach is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,836 at the 2010 census. Pontoon Beach is located at (38.726078, -90.060505). According to the 2010 census, Pontoon Beach has a total area of , of which (or 79.75%) is land and (or 20.25%) is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,620 people, 2,134 households, and 1,519 families residing in the village. The population density was 686.9 people per square mile (265.3/km²). There were 2,341 housing units at an average density of 286.1 per square