Well, yes, if the requirement is to build the cheapest possible functional structure that is exactly what the value engineering process ends up doing. But as I mentioned, for many projects there are local politics or other concerns that make creative intent one of the REQUIREMENTS of the project. I have personally been involved with a number of such projects where engineering the cheapest possible functional solution would never have been considered acceptable, so the engineers have to go back and forth with the creative types to come up with a compromise that results in a structure that’s supported in an entirely different way that it appears at first glance.
Several others in this thread have already linked to articles with information explaining that the pylon and cables were decorative on this bridge, and maybe you still don’t believe that. But I’ll bet I can show you some examples of fake cable suspension bridge that you’ll admit are just there for cosmetics:
