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325th Street Bridge

Story County, Iowa
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Photo taken by Bill Dunbar

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Map 

Description 

Before 1902 the Story County supervisors contracted primarily for wooden wagon bridges, occasionally purchasing iron or combination trusses for the more major crossings. In April 1902 the county first hired Des Moines bridge contractor N.M. Stark and Company to build an 80-foot truss. This represented the beginning of a 10-year relationship between county and contractor, in which Stark built virtually all of Story County's bridges. In 1905 Stark began building concrete arch bridges, based upon the patent of Indianapolis engineer Daniel Luten. One of these first concrete structures was this small-scale arch over an unnamed stream a mile southeast of Maxwell. Featuring Luten's distinctive elliptical profile and Stark's trademark concrete parapets, the bridge was to typify Stark's design and construction over the next eight years. Before the codification of bridge design in the state in 1913, Stark built perhaps hundreds of Luten arches throughout Iowa, in exclusive contracts with Story and other counties. This structure in Story County is distinguished as the earliest remaining Luten arch in the state. In fact, with its 1905 construction date, it is one of the oldest Luten arches in the country, built in the same year as Daniel Luten received his patent. For this reason, it is a technologically significant, transportation-related resource. The bridge still carries traffic today at this rural Indian Creek Township crossing, although, with moderate collision damage to the guardrails and concrete cracking and spalling of the spandrels, it is in relatively poor condition [adapted from Fraser 1992].

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Facts 

Overview
Arch bridge over Calamus Creek on 325th Street in Maxwell
Location
Story County, Iowa
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1905; rehabilitated 1920
Builder
- N.M. Stark & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa
Design
Luten Arch
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 24.9 ft.
Total length: 44.9 ft.
Deck width: 16.7 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 15, 1998
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.88484, -93.38215   (decimal degrees)
41°53'05" N, 93°22'56" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/468293/4637060 (zone/easting/northing)
Land survey
T. 82 N., R. 22 W., Sec. 26
USGS topographic map
Maxwell
Inventory numbers
IA 313850 (Iowa bridge number)
NRHP 98000486 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 14446 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 02/2011)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 72.3 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
35

Categories 

Arch (9,418)
Built 1905 (550)
Built during 1900s (4,246)
Closed-spandrel arch (2,754)
Deck arch (8,695)
Functionally obsolete (7,036)
Iowa (3,501)
Luten arch (55)
 N.M. Stark & Co. (18)
NR-listed (2,353)
Open (28,305)
Owned by county (16,484)
Span length under 25 feet (4,081)
Story County, Iowa (94)
Total length 25-50 feet (7,628)

Update Log 

  • October 18, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • May 5, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • December 19, 2011: Updated by Frank Hicks: Added NRHP info
  • July 27, 2011: New photo from Luke Harden

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