Ely Street Bridge
Photos
Ely Street Bridge - Built 1891
Two identical Pratt through trusses extend across Big Creek in the village of Bertram in southern Linn County.
Photo by Iowa DOT
History
From Iowa DOT Web SiteDescription: These two identical Pratt through trusses extend across Big Creek in the village of Bertram in southern Linn County. A bridge plate indicates that it was built by J.E. Jayne and Son of Iowa City, Iowa, in 1891. Minutes of a meeting of the Linn County Board of Supervisors in January 1892 reported that the 224-foot Bertram Bridge, with iron tube piers and two 20-foot approaches, had cost an aggregate sum of $2,927. The Pratt through truss style was utilized on many bridges build in Linn County in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since its construction, the Ely Street Bridge has carried sparse traffic and currently maintains a high degree of both structural and historically integrity.
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Big Creek on Ely Street in Bertram
- Location
- Linn County, Iowa
- Status
- Washed away by floods
- History
- Built 1891 by J.E. Jayne & Son; Washed away 2014; Removed from NRHP 12-8-14, replacement bridge underway.
- Builders
- - Carnegie Steel Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Iron/Steel Manufacturer)
- J.E. Jayne & Son Bridge Co. of Iowa City, Iowa
- Design
- Pin-connected, 5-panel Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 88.9 ft.
Total length: 208.0 ft.
Deck width: 13.5 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.94914, -91.53050 (decimal degrees)
41°56'57" N, 91°31'50" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/621798/4645173 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Bertram
- Inventory numbers
- IA 640 (Iowa bridge number)
NRHP 98000531 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 13837 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 02/2012)
- Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 21.6 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2005)
- 130
Update Log
- December 23, 2014: Updated by Dave King: Updated NRHP status: Removed
- July 1, 2014: New photos from Steve Rasmussen
- July 1, 2014: Updated by Jason Smith: Bridge washed away by flooding, may be salvageable
- September 20, 2013: New Street View added by Dave King
- September 16, 2013: New photos from Jason Smith
- May 11, 2013: Updated by Dave King: Added link to Carnagie Steel info
- September 21, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
- January 4, 2009: New photos from Quinn Phelan
- December 18, 2008: Essay added by Quinn Phelan
Sources
- Quinn Phelan - qphelan [at] earthlink [dot] net
- Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Steve Rasmussen
Comments
Sad final chapter to what was a beautiful structure from a lesser known builder. Mother Nature is the one thing that we have little control over...
Except in cases like this:
It's official: Contract has been let to Taylor Consruction for $938,000 to build a new structure in its place. The agreement was signed in June. I suspect construction will begin later this fall. More later.
JS
There is no saving it, they are putting in something different. It was pretty torn up as you can see in the pictures. PCI is a big contractor in Iowa. It's very hard to convince them in Iowa when the engineering companies are all about making bolted ugly replacements. Hopefully they will save the other one.
updates on bridge replacement on Ely Street and the future of the remains of the old one. I'm hopeful that they can save it somehow. Minutes of town meeting 12/02/215.
Update:
http://thegazette.com/subject/news/bertram-works-to-replace-...
Question: has the old bridge been scrapped? If not, what would it cost to fix?
Regards,
Art S.
Update on the Ely Street Bridge and its unknown future. Suggestions on what to do with the bridge more than welcomed, for the people in Bertram and Cedar Rapids will need them. http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2014/07/04/ely-street-...
Here is an article from about a year ago:
http://thegazette.com/2013/07/06/not-all-eastern-iowa-commun...
Seems like the town was perfectly content keeping their old bridges and didn't want to pitch in to help the state 'upgrade' them. I wish there was a way to save the bridge and encourage this way of thinking.
Washed away. If someone (not me) moves quickly, maybe the bridge can be recovered and repaired.
http://thegazette.com/subject/news/one-of-two-historic-bertr...
This is a beauty from a firm I had not heard of before now. Definitely one of the more unique plaques you will ever see!
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ia/linn/640/