Rating:
2 votes

MET Dry Creek Bridge

Stanislaus County, California
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Dry Creek RR Bridge Modesto CA

Photo taken by Craig Philpott

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Description 

Deck plate girder with pin connected truss reinforcement system

Facts 

Overview
Deck plate girder bridge over Dry Creek on Railroad
Location
Modesto, Stanislaus County, California
Status
Open to traffic
Design
Deck plate girder with pin connected under-girder truss system
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 78.0 ft.
Total length: 224.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+37.63634, -120.98436   (decimal degrees)
37°38'11" N, 120°59'04" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/677847/4167378 (zone/easting/northing)
Elevation
89 ft. above sea level
USGS topographic map
Riverbank
Inventory number
BH 51914 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

California (1,615)
Deck girder (1,795)
Girder (3,227)
Modesto & Empire Traction Co. (1)
Modesto, California (3)
Open (28,293)
 Owned by railroad (4,034)
Plate girder (2,242)
Railroad (4,053)
Span length 75-100 feet (4,718)
Stanislaus County, California (23)
Total length 175-250 feet (2,788)

Update Log 

  • May 10, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Changed status from "Unknown" to "Open"
  • March 31, 2012: Added by Craig Philpott

Sources 

  • Craig Philpott - cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu
  • Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Dry Creek Railroad Bridge
Posted April 1, 2012, by Mike Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This is what happens when a truss bridge and a girder bridge have too much to drink and spend a romantic night together.

My guess is the girder needed strengthening for some reason or another, and the railroad added the tie-bars and struts to give the girders more strength. It appears this either happened during original construction of the span or not very long after. The steel fabrication methods are similar, ie: rivets and pins. It does not appear this is a modern addition to the girders, but was done a while ago.

It may have been the original design for this bridge as well, if you look at the girders there are doubled up bearing stiffeners above each of the vertical strut members. These could have been added later, but who knows for sure.

That’s one theory, I would love to hear others.

Dry Creek Railroad Bridge
Posted April 1, 2012, by Wes Kinsler (webmaster [at] wkinsler [dot] com)

The bracing is reminiscent of the truss rods that were used to reinforce wooden railroad cars.

Dry Creek Railroad Bridge
Posted March 31, 2012, by Craig Philpott (cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu)

I am very interested in comments from more experienced pontist's regarding this design.