Albright Bridge

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Photo taken by Jason Smith

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Description

This long-span steel truss carries an unpaved county road across the Boone River in Independence Township, south of Webster City. The structure consists of a single pinned Pratt through truss supported by steel cylinder piers, with steel stringer approach spans on both ends. The history of the Albright Bridge dates to April 1907, when the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors contracted with Webster City contractor A.H. Austin to supply and build the steel truss. Austin worked on the construction throughout the remainder of the year; by early January 1908 the Albright Bridge had been completed. It has since carried vehicular traffic in essentially unaltered condition. Roughly 175 pinned Pratt through trusses were identified during Clayton Fraser's state historic bridge inventory in the early 1990s. These ranged in span length form 64 feet to 180 feet (the average is about 110 feet), and in fabrication date between 1874 and 1937 (with the average about 1902). With a span length of 156 feet, the Albright Bridges is distinguished as one of the longest pinned Pratt trusses remaining in Iowa. It is thus an important example of this mainstay structural type [adapted from Fraser 1990].

Facts

Overview: Pratt through truss bridge over Boone River on Inkpaduta Avenue
Location: Hamilton County, Iowa
Status: Open to traffic
History: Built 1907
Builder: - A.H. Austin of Webster City, Iowa
Design: Pratt through truss
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 156.2 ft.
Total length: 207.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.7 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.9 ft.
Recognition: Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude: +42.40556, -93.80961 (decimal degrees)
42°24'20" N, 93°48'35" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 15/433377/4695123 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Webster City
Land survey: T. 88 N., R. 25 W., Sec. 30
Inventory numbers: IA 171910 (Iowa bridge number)
BH 13562 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2015): Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 25.1 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011): 40

Update Log

June 2, 2015: New photos from Kevin Skow
December 3, 2011: Updated by Frank Hicks: Updated design per description
September 7, 2011: New photos from Jason Smith
July 26, 2011: Updated by Luke Harden: Added description and changed name

Sources

Luke
Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
Frank Hicks
Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
Kevin Skow - weatherbum [at] hotmail [dot] com