Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26773508-20150729045448/@comment-3568954-20150812222140

You got to realize they were in the Midst of a war. one can't simply stop fighting a war to build a bridge. its not like modern times where they have specially trained units who do nothing but build bridges and Earth release can create temporary constructs but not permanent constructs when chakra fades from such constructs they will eventually fall apart

an earth release user would be able to create temporary bridges for others to build permanent bridges

another factor you must consider is that the bridge was supposed to be pretty big and it spanned a deep ravine

just creating a bridge in an instant isn't going to work not when you are being attacked on all sides on top of that the lesson tought in naruto is that the new generations generally surpass the older ones with that being said its entirely possible that Earth release users back than couldn't create as large of earth constructs

in the end its not a plot hole