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Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge

Washington, District of Columbia
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Photos 

Southwest Elevation, Looking East

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Concrete arch bridge over Rock Creek on Pennsylvania Avenue
Location
Washington, District of Columbia
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1858 in Cast Iron. Cast Iron Arch Encased In Concrete In 1916; rehabilitated 1979
Design
Cast Iron Deck Arch Encased In Concrete Closed Spandrel deck arch.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 164.1 ft.
Total length: 275.9 ft.
Deck width: 49.9 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.90457, -77.05596   (decimal degrees)
38°54'16" N, 77°03'21" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/321723/4308195 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Washington West
Inventory numbers
DC 118 (District of Columbia bridge number)
BH 12260 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 04/2005)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 62.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 1992)
25,000

Categories 

Arch (9,419)
Built 1916 (465)
Built during 1910s (6,729)
Closed-spandrel arch (2,759)
Deck arch (8,700)
District of Columbia (54)
 Functionally obsolete (7,040)
Have street view (9,891)
Open (28,310)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,954)
Total length 250-500 feet (3,371)
Washington, District of Columbia (54)

Update Log 

  • March 7, 2011: Updated by Nathan Holth: Expanded History To Discuss Cast Iron Arch.
  • August 7, 2010: Posted HAER photos
  • May 4, 2010: Updated by Nathan Holth: Added GPS and info.

Sources 

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Comments 

Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge
Posted March 7, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This bridge is much more than is currently described here. Sealed within this bridge is one of only two cast iron deck arch bridges in the United States (the other of course is Dunlaps Creek Bridge in Brownsville, PA). The Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge is unique, as the cast iron tubular arches of this bridge were designed to carry water within themselves. In other words, the arch ribs of the bridge are water mains. According to HAER they still carry water, encased within the 1915 arch bridge. They are visible both in HAER documentation and in Google Street View.