Rating:
8 votes

FEC - Port Mayaca Drawbridge

Martin County, Florida

Photos 

Photo taken by Matt Lohry

Enlarge

BH Photo #223420

Map 

Street View 

Description 

Quite possibly the most fascinating lift bridge in Florida, this is a very rare pony plate girder railroad lift bridge. The stabilizer bracing at the top and the sides of the lift tower are trusses in and of themselves! Even though this bridge is very close to Hwy. 76, thick vegetation and steep canal sides make photographing this bridge next to impossible.

Facts 

Overview
Pony/through plate girder bridge over St. Lucie Canal on South Central Florida Express (formerly the South Central Florida Railroad)
Location
Martin County, Florida
Status
Open to traffic
Builder
- Waddell & Harrington of Kansas City, Missouri
Railroads
- Florida East Coast Railway (FEC)
- South Central Florida Express (SCXF)
- South Central Florida Railroad (SCFE)
Design
Pony plate girder
Approximate latitude, longitude
+26.98736, -80.60430   (decimal degrees)
26°59'15" N, 80°36'15" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/539263/2985097 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Port Mayaca
Inventory number
BH 50967 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Deck girder (5,164)
Florida (622)
Florida East Coast Railway (41)
Girder (9,317)
Have street view (25,648)
Martin County, Florida (11)
Movable (2,863)
Navigable waterway (2,094)
Open (38,471)
Owned by railroad (11,304)
 Plate girder (7,123)
Railroad (14,497)
Rigid Connected Tower Vertical Lift (60)
Skewed (4,815)
South Central Florida Express (2)
South Central Florida Railroad (2)
St. Lucie Canal (Florida) (1)
Through girder (3,467)
Vertical lift (416)
Waddell & Harrington (44)

Update Log 

  • August 9, 2014: New photos from Irma Hale
  • August 1, 2014: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • October 7, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Navigable waterway", "Florida East Coast Railway"
  • October 7, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
  • August 27, 2013: New photos from Douglas Butler
  • March 7, 2012: Updated by Wes Worsham: Added category "Skewed"
  • March 2, 2012: Updated by C Hanchey: Added categories "South Central Florida Express", "South Central Florida Railroad ", "St. Lucie Canal "
  • January 15, 2012: Added by Matt Lohry

Sources 

  • Matt Lohry
  • C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Douglas Butler
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Port Mayaca Drawbridge
Posted March 6, 2012, by Matt Lohry

They are indeed skewed to match the angle of the canal--I noticed it when I was photographing it but failed to mention it here...

Port Mayaca Drawbridge
Posted March 6, 2012, by Michael Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I agree, the lift towers do appear to be on a skew in photo #5.

The Chandler Bridge here in Oregon is a vertical lift bridge similar to this one. It has a fairly large skew on the lift span in order to align with the shipping channel.

http://www.bridgehunter.com/or/coos/717624100373/

Port Mayaca Drawbridge
Posted March 5, 2012, by Robert Thompson (rkt [dot] engineering [at] gmail [dot] com)

Is it just me, or is this bridge skewed to align with the canal?