Rating:
3 votes

Natural Dam Bridge

Crawford County, Arkansas
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Photos 

Side view

Photo taken Oct. 2001 and provided by the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Two-span through truss bridge over Lee Creek on AR 59 near the community of Natural Dam
Location
Crawford County, Arkansas
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
Scheduled for replacement 2017
History
Built 1934 by contractor M.E. Gillioz, replacing an earlier truss bridge built in 1907 by the Illinois Steel Bridge Co.
Builder
- M.E. Gillioz of Monett, Missouri
Design
Two-span, riveted, 6-panel Pennsylvania through truss with additional subties
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 142.0 ft.
Total length: 585.8 ft.
Deck width: 22.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.8 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 1990
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.64585, -94.39360   (decimal degrees)
35°38'45" N, 94°23'37" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/373834/3945563 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Natural Dam
Inventory numbers
AHTD 01811 (Arkansas Highway and Transportation Dept. bridge number)
NRHP 90000508 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
AHTD 1811 (Arkansas Highway and Transportation Dept. bridge number)
BH 10318 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 06/2015)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 48.8 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2014)
1,500

Categories 

6-panel truss (540)
Arkansas (1,668)
Available for reuse (226)
Built 1934 (680)
Built during 1930s (10,443)
Crawford County, Arkansas (79)
Doomed (1,044)
Functionally obsolete (7,895)
HAER documented (1,096)
Have street view (21,682)
M.E. Gillioz (40)
 NR-listed (2,836)
Open (36,153)
Owned by state (13,376)
Pennsylvania truss (403)
Riveted (1,830)
Skewed (4,660)
Span length 125-175 feet (3,730)
Through truss (12,799)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,499)
Truss (29,288)

Update Log 

  • March 17, 2013: Updated by James Baughn: Bridge is doomed, but available for adaptive reuse
  • August 20, 2011: Updated by David Backlin: Corrected bridge type per AHTD documents
  • May 3, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
  • December 5, 2009: Added HAER photos, removed duplicate listing
  • January 20, 2005: Posted AHTD photos

Sources 

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Comments 

Natural Dam Bridge
Posted July 17, 2015, by Melissa Jones (jonespbc [at] mac [dot] com)

View of the bridge from the north end. Taken in January 2015.

Natural Dam Bridge
Posted November 24, 2014, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

To be preserved in a new location (hopefully):

http://swtimes.com/news/chaffee-trust-eyes-vintage-bridge-hi...

Lee Creek Bridge
Posted April 24, 2009, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Nice pics Wendy.....Love the dark clouds in the sky.

Lee Creek Bridge
Posted April 24, 2009, by Windy Richardson (bug_1981 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

According to the plaque on the bridge this was built in 1934. Contractor - M.E. Gillioz. Engineer - N.B. Garver. See attached photos

Natural Dam Bridge
Posted February 26, 2007, by Fred Garcia (fandsgarcia [at] gmail [dot] com)

Visited this bridge at 5:30 pm on 25 Feb '07. Arrived almost at sunset, but I got a few decent photos from each side and through the windshield as I drove across. Lee creek was up from rain the day before so profile views were out of the question. Upstream of this bridge is Natural Dam that is so close, if you don't visit you've missed out big time. It is a pretty spot with a 4' cragy ledgedrop, and a low-water bridge just below it. A nice picnic area with ample parking is adjacent to the falls.

Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.

Natural Dam Bridge
Posted December 20, 2006, by Confused teen 108 (N/A)

I have lived in Natural Dam all of my life. Natural dam is a wonderful place to live the bridge is beautiful and so is the dam. Two years ago the dam and the bridge flooded and was so coll except for the people who's house flooded. the bridge was closed for about two hours and that bridge is tall for it to be flooded. Well I hope you come to Natural dam and visit us some time.