As of December 18, 2020 this bridge has been closed, and demolition has begun.
https://www.forsythnews.com/news/transportation/browns-bridg...
the bridge is histical and should be closed not tore down.
Pretty clearly relocated from somewhere else. It appears that the trusses were actually rather unaltered when the photos were taken
"Lost" refers to the fact that the bridge has been demolished and no longer exists. The "cantilever through truss" refers to the bridge type. Hope that helps!
Please forgive the Newbie question.
What does this bridge's description mean, which says, "Lost cantilever through truss bridge over Savannah River on US 17 in Savannah"?
I am referring to the "Lost cantilever" or does my question make more sense referring to "Lost cantilever through truss bridge"?
Thanks.
I belong to a Facebook group that is based on Fannin County History. Besides many other lost bridges that are not listed yet on this site, there has been some discussion about this particular bridge and whether or not it is the same on that was originally located further upstream on the Toccoa River. Apparently, it is!
According to the Fannin County Times, dated August 1, 1935, the concrete bridge that is just upstream from the Old Toccoa River Bridge was constructed, while "a contract for approximately $12,000 will be let for the removal of the old bridge from the old Morganton highway over the Toccoa River to be used for the bridge now in use between McCaysville and Copperhill. This bridge was in use only a few years and will be a great improvement over the one now in use." (from the article).
Additionally, I have attached a photo from that group that shows the bridge in its original location (albeit not in a way that actually shows it on a map). It is interesting that the bridge was stored in Fannin County from around 1930 to 1936 before being placed at its current location.
There are TWO tunnels. One tunnel has been incorporated into the Silver Comet trail. There is another one which we found by accident driving to the trail. I saw the topography and said “that screams tunnel”. Pulled of the road and climbed along way down and found what’s pictured below. This not the tunnel that’s now apart of the Silver Comet trail
The Deep Creek Bridge is closed as of October 2019 since one of the steel supports has been lost. Slated to be replaced in 2021.
Yes the bridge was left behind. It was not torn down. I remember before the lake was backed up going across the bridge into South Carolina to get fireworks. I also remember going across the new bridge looking down at the old bridge. If you were a diver you could dive it.
Seems all the wood on the south side is gone. Just the wood in the middle remains.
The NBI data can be imprecise. The location is probably not accurate.
This 1920 bridge or tunnel or whatever no longer appears in the 2018 NBI.
The 2004 NBI lists it this way.
CSX RR (340737J) 00332 CR 332 IN N CARTERSVILLE Cartersville Concrete Tunnel 107.0 107.0 1920 -- -- 000000001551110 0.9
Can find no evidence of a tunnel in this vicinity. There is a bridge near here at (34.182493, -84.815953); it's a railroad (Western & Atlantic) over GA 293.
Can find no evidence of a tunnel in this vicinity. There is a bridge near here at (34.182493, -84.815953); it's a railroad (CSX?) over GA 293.
As a child in the 1940's, bridges of this type were common in Newton, Butts & Jasper Counties. Imagine my serendipity when I came across this old bridge that brought back oodles of memories.
1973 photos of White Oak Creek Bridge near Alvaton - Meriwether County, Ga.
Tommy Thornhill Photo
The counties or private individuals built the bridges such as Jones Bridge. The ones abandoned were either built by the counties or by a private individual that ran them as toll bridge.
Over time the population grew and the State of Georgia built new bridges to replace these.
In the case of Jones Bridge both counties abandoned maintaining it. Which the old Jones Bridge no longer exists.
Pic of bridge 7/10/2020
Hiked the abandoned rail line as part of great eastern trail last week.severely overgrown from starling mill road to this bridge. About half a mile of rail bed is fenced off by farmer just prior to bridge. Other landowners have blocked trail on this section.
Bridge ok; West end blocked by fallen tree
That is correct - actually, it looks like the replacement was finished ahead of schedule, at the very end of 2016. So, demolition of this would have been at the beginning of 2017.
Looks like the old bridge is gone from a satellite view.
Update on bridge date. Looks like 1929, bridge named by commissioners to honor confederate soldiers.
06/23/2020
North Approach via Egg and Butter Road is gone, now a driveway for residence. South Approach Egg and Butter road is intact but is privately owned with no trespassing signs.
The bridge is still openly visible via US19 bridge which has a wide emergency lane on bridge. The old wood trail approach on south side is completely gone. Still searching for more info on this bridge.
The new one looks like the old one. It is (1) in Catoosa County, not Walker County, (2) is a one-lane bridge (northbound must yield, Southbound coming out of the park has a severe left turn after crossing the truss bridge, to go over another bridge).
It crosses over the West Chickamauga Creek at the Southeast entrance to #ChickamaugaNationalMilitaryPark, the largest Civil War military park in the U.S. National Park System. The first Alexander('s) Bridge was the site of some of the first fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga, mid-Sept. 1863. Signs around the bridge talk about the skirmish there. The new bridge includes stones from Fort Sheridan (on the south side).
The new one looks like the old one. It is (1) in Catoosa County, not Walker County, (2) is a one-lane bridge (northbound must yield, Southbound coming out of the park has a severe left turn after crossing the truss bridge, to go over another bridge).
It crosses over the West Chickamauga Creek at the Southeast entrance to #ChickamaugaNationalMilitaryPark, the largest Civil War military park in the U.S. National Park System. The first Alexander('s) Bridge was the site of some of the first fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga, mid-Sept. 1863. Signs around the bridge talk about the skirmish there. The new bridge includes stones from Fort Sheridan (on the south side).
This site appears to be wrong. I even converted UMT to same location. No sign any creek was ever at this high ground location. Mystery?
Roof damaged Hurricane Michael but still nice. Gated, Closed to foot traffic .
Bridge to be converted into a pedestrian crossing. Details via podcast and links here: https://bridgehunterschronicles.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/bhc...
Traveled here twice in my car very beautiful place
It's at Hudson Mill, but all I've been able to find is a forum post on a Georgia outdoorsman page from 6 years ago with a phone number from someone saying he knows the area well: https://forum.gon.com/threads/harris-county-hudson-mill.8242...
Really need help here. Found this Truss Bridge and not listed. You can see it on Google Maps but cannot find any info on it.
Saw this bridge on Google Maps satellite view. Any more info would help.
Beautiful old bridge
If you follow the rail line Northwest from here and cross Hwy. 341, you will come to a wooden trestle over West Chickamauga Creek. From the Google earth view, it looks like half of the trestle has collapsed leaving the rails "floating" in place. Does anyone have any pics of it?
I saw a Seaboard Coast Line Railroad girder bridge on Jones Ave when I followed the abandoned rail line.Did they operate over this abandoned rail line also?
In about 1950, the iron bridge had been condemned to a single lane of traffic on hwy 41. One way traffic, northbound for awhile, then southbound for a while. All was controlled by a man in a hut with a switch to a traffic light on the Fulton country end of the bridge. My dad was one of those men. He worked this job after his farming years were over due to crop failures.
I can’t find any photos of the bridge from that time.
If this bridge was placed here around 1915, then this is its second home. The bridge is pin connected and contains wrought iron tension members.
My first guess is Wrought Iron Bridge Co. mid 1890s.
Regards,
Art S.
This bridge is doomed
2016 article with two photos, taken from a canoe on the river.
http://www.wwals.net/2018/11/04/stone-bridge-little-river-by...
In picture 17 it appears that railroad rail was cut and used as reinforcement for the bridge deck. I wish I was there so I could get a closer look.
The section that was taken out was by a dump truck that didn't lower his dump. It was still attached after he went in the water. The section of bridge fell into the river when the crane was trying to retrieved the truck. I was standing on the bridge as a spectator (Ga side), the whole bridge almost collapsed. Like I said I almost had a heart attack running off the bridge.
They tore down the bridge today Sept. 9th 2019 in Buchanan Ga.
"All the charm of a prison yard"; "Any enhancement would be trading up on the Forsyth viaduct's sterile look".
I love the writer's eloquence and would like to think that they would appreciate what us bridge preservationists have been dealing with for many years.
I don't mind at all I'm just a contributor. Good catch Melissa.
Doug, I hope you don't mind I made a few updates.
This bridge should have remained standing down from the new bridge as it posed no threat to it.
In response to the comment that any government is "hell bent" on destroying history of this bridge... it was offered at a public hearing to anyone wishing to remove and restore it at another location, but there were no takers.
There is talk in our banks county to tear down our Bailey bridge. We want to keep it as it is quaint and historic. Any thing you can do to help keep it
Would appreciate it.
The location given for this tunnel is incorrect. The coordinates and map location are for the Braswell Mountain Railroad Tunnel which is abandoned and unrestored. https://bridgehunter.com/ga/paulding/braswell-tunnel/
Doomed unless a new owner/location is found:
https://www.wtoc.com/2019/05/01/houlihan-bridge-savannah-bei...
I'm 72 years old and my G Grandfather Dave Miller owned this mill. He acquired it from his wife's relatives, the Hintons. I do recall seeing a large round rock just North of this bridge that was revealed in the late 1950s when the mill pond was drawn down to remove built up sand from the damn area. I watched this being done with a drag bucket and a mule. Anyway, I was told that the area boys would frequently dive from this bridge and, one one occasion,someone broke their neck by diving onto this rock that was just under the surface. Could have been a Carmichael, but I can't remember. Also, My brother James Clark jumped from this bridge in mid-Winter on a dare from me. He almost froze to death before he could get out.
To me, this looks like steel stringer spans with added bracing to give a truss like component, similar to this:
http://bridgehunter.com/mo/st-louis/belgrove-rr/
Would have to see closer photos to be sure though.
This was an exceedingly rare surviving example of a bridge using Kahn type reinforcing, a "trussed" reinforcement that was a very unusual type of reinforcing. A historical article is attached about this bridge. Further information about Kahn can be found here. https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=i...
She's coming down! CIM and Stevens & Wilkinson have been working on renderings. Waiting to see the final, but based on the infrastructure and fact that it doesn't match up with the Mitchell Street Bridge for future rail line improvements it needed to be rebuilt. (Photo by Chris Hrubesh)
Better Bridge Coords: 34°25'11.13"N 84°56'5.29"W
On further topo map research, it appears that this was likely a rail bridge that was later converted to a road bridge before being abandoned completely; when the forest area was owned by the military, a short distance railroad was plotted across this point.
So, apparently, it was both at different times.
Of note is that Ponce de Leon Ave / GA 8 / US 78 / US 23 / US 29 (this road carries a lot of routes) is a four lane arterial road, but the outer two lanes have clearance of less than 10 feet under the bridge. The bridge still gets hit regularly by trucks, and the concrete reinforcement has to be patched up periodically.
This was definitely a road bridge. The road involved isn't named, but shows up at this location on the USGS 250k:1 topo map for Rome, GA in 1955, 1958, and 1961, and even still in the 24k:1 quadrangle for Matt, GA for 1997 (historicalmaps.arcgis.com). This is the same road that connects to North Gate Rd/Sweetwater Rd on the north side of the river.
It's likely that this was originally planned to be part of, or planned to be replaced for, Georgia Highway 318 (now defunct).
GA 318 ran along what is now Dawson Forest Road in the southern area of the forest up until just short of that bridge, visible on the Matt, GA quadrangle. The original road going over this bridge took a little more meandering path than the one currently called Clark Rd. It never officially extended northward onto North Gate Road on the Georgia highway system maps, and that portion of it was decommissioned by 1972. (The number itself was dropped in the mid-1980s.)
Other evidence of association: Part of North Gate Rd in the middle of the forest is paved, with asphalt that looks to be about 1960s in age. Strangely, this segment is not connected to any other paved road. It's likely the Highway 318 project was abandoned at some point, as the current dirt part of North Gate Road meanders a lot more than would be expected for a state highway of the time.
More recent information suggests that the Nelson Street bridge will be replaced for $5 million.
https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2018/09/city-reaches-agreemen...
To be replaced, but that's 2 years gone down:
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/nelson-street-bridge-replaced...
Background: I tried hard to find out when this closed to vehicular traffic, but cannot nail down the actual year. I drove across this many times in 1998-1999 (the first two years I lived inside the city of Atlanta). I can find evidence that it was closed by 2003 and derelict with weeds growing out of it by mid-2004.
Its status is still unclear as of this writing, as it is sometimes closed even to pedestrian traffic, and then quietly reopened again.
Entrance to the North end of the tunnel: 34.743156,-85.334241 Entrance to the South end of the tunnel: 34.738577,-85.333201
What directions are you using to find this
According to what i read in this mornings local paper where I live 30 rail cars derailed on and around this bridge yesterday morning with some cars falling onto GA90.CSX said 4 of the cars held liquefied petroleum gas with no leaks reported.Crews are working to re-rail the cars.There was no mention of any damage to the bridge.
Here are some photos I took last week.
If you choose "replaced" instead of "bypassed" it defaults the bridge as lost.
This bridge is near my in laws house and I drove over it a couple months back. Looks in pretty old and weathered condition but appears functional. I was actually surprised that it was not closed with the new Cloverdale Road alignment so close! Next time I will try to get some pics to upload.
I took this yesterday.
I grew up west of this old bridge from about 1960 through 1970. I remember the older bridge before this one. It was a very creaky old bridge that I could actually hear it creak as the cars went over it. It still gives me the chills just remembering it! Several vehicles had gone over it and turned over into the creek below. When the creek would flood after heavy rainz,it would actually almost disappear.
I think you have this abandoned tunnel confused with the Divide Tunnel: https://bridgehunter.com/ga/paulding/divide-tunnel/
This tunnel has been incorporated as part of the Silver Comet Trail rail trail. The rail line was abandoned in 1980 by CSX, purchased by GA DOT and reopened as the Silver Comet rail trail in late 1998-2001. The tunnel and approaches were excavated and restored, paved with concrete and lighted.
Traffic listed at 490? Per year when it was open maybe.
The page says that the bridge is a Silver Comet bridge. It is NOT a Silver Comet bridge. The Silver Comet Trail is dozens of miles to the south. If this is part of the old Seaboard line that carried the Silver Comet trains, please be more specific. Thank you!
One of my favorite photo spots.
1932 cook map indicates a 700 foot concrete Luten arch on a former alignment of state route #76.
http://vault.georgiaarchives.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/c...
My wife and I were there today. 03/31/18. She had never seen it before and was very impressed with it. I took several pictures of it while we were there. I had no idea it was a railroad tunnel. Very interested.
This is not where Richardson Creek is. This would have been the old Thunderbolt Bridge. There is now the third generation span at this site.
Richardson Creek empties into the Bull River near a bridge across the Bull River further east on U.S. 80.
A combination mystery bridge and newsflyer are enclosed here: http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2018/01/29/mystery-91-...
James, Yes I can confirm this a visitor to my website informed me as well. Here is a news article with six photos. http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/multimedia/last-section-of-...
The remaining span of this bridge has reportedly collapsed into the river.
Just visited this bridge. It looks like the worst of the graffiti on the bridge has been cleaned up.
This was a really neat bridge to visit. It is the oldest and longest covered bridge still in Georgia. It is in a beautiful area and definitely worth the drive to go see it.
I am a filmmaker and was very inspired by the historic Browns Bridge, and upon hearing that it was being torn down, I decided to shoot a film on the location. It will be called "The Point Beyond Madness" and will be available for viewing at my website, www.shutterstinct.com on December 10th, 2017. I'm not sure how many films have been shot at the location but I'm saddened to realize that mine may very well be the last.
Replacement project commencing for all Lake Lanier bridges.
https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/all-lake-lanier-bridge...
Replacement underway, osprey moving to public housing towers.
https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/all-lake-lanier-bridge...
"Officials have said the bridge project has a unique feature: 30-foot towers to accommodate osprey, a bird of prey that likes to make the bridge its summer home."
Contract awarded; the deed will be done by April 2020
https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/all-lake-lanier-bridge...
Ospreys reportedly disappointed in having to build nests elsewhere.
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-historic-concord-road-cov...
800k being spent to rehab and extend the life of the covered bridge. has made getting around the west side of Smyrna a bit tougher but the bridge will be open in time for Christmas(Dec. 20th I believe is the projected re-opening date)
Rev James Solomon Settle Baptisms at Settles Bridge. 1910-1911
I visited the tunnel today (7-10-17) and hiked above to the right side where the rock drainage wall is. There is major erosion over the portal (10-20 ft) where all you can see is dirt over the arch of the brick. I'm not any kind of engineer but I do not thing the northern portal is going to be up much longer with the way the water drains.
Should be Baker Co. Ga, not Newton County.
Relocated safely to a park AND replaced by a decent looking modern pony truss. If an old truss absolutely must go from its original site and another historic bridge can't be used as a replacement, you can't ask for a much better outcome.
Accessible via gravel trail at olde rope mill park.
This bridge has some unusual members. Modified perhaps?
Not sure what they did to inflate the cost of the best option (#1), but I tend to agree with Matt that they are deceiving the public!
Demolishing this bridge should not be an option as it accomplishes nothing but wasting tax payer money and eliminating yet another beautiful historical and rare structure.
Did you also notice that the best option is also shown to be the most expensive, probably to deceive the public into thinking that it's actually true, so they can have an excuse to demolish the old bridge??
The first option would be great. I noticed that two of the options involve demolishing this bridge. That would be an unfortunate outcome.
Additional reporting with renderings of all four options being proposed.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/duluth-asking-residen...
Engineers present Rogers Bridge rehabilitation concepts in Duluth
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/engineers-present-rogers-bridg...