Rating:
4 votes

Welch Avenue College Creek Bridge

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Photos 

Photo taken by Luke Harden in April 2012

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Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Arch bridge over College Creek on Welch Avenue on Iowa State University Campus
Location
Ames, Story County, Iowa
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1911
Design
Closed-spandrel arch
Also called
Friley Hall Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.02322, -93.64999   (decimal degrees)
42°01'24" N, 93°38'60" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/446188/4652558 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Ames West
Inventory number
BH 49254 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Ames, Iowa (37)
Arch (9,420)
Built 1911 (457)
Built during 1910s (6,731)
Closed-spandrel arch (2,762)
Deck arch (8,703)
Have street view (9,908)
Iowa (3,511)
Iowa State University (11)
Open (28,319)
Owned by college (26)
Story County, Iowa (94)

Update Log 

  • April 11, 2012: New photos from Luke Harden
  • August 24, 2011: Updated by Luke Harden: Added build date
  • August 4, 2011: New photo from Luke Harden
  • August 2, 2011: Updated by Luke Harden: updated overview
  • July 31, 2011: New Street View added by Luke Harden
  • July 29, 2011: Added by Luke Harden

Sources 

  • Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com

Comments 

Welch Avenue College Creek Bridge
Posted November 15, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

Identification of a Melan or Melan-style concrete arch requires either a plaque listing Melan, a study of original bridge plans indicating Melan or Melan-style reinforcing, or severe deterioration that exposes and renders visible the reinforcing (see External Links to Flickr photos: http://www.bridgehunter.com/mn/ramsey/bh48952/ ). That being the case, I can't tell if this bridge might be a Melan arch. 1911 is a fairly early arch bridge, but other reinforcing methods were also established at this time.

Welch Avenue College Creek Bridge
Posted November 15, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I'm still an infant when it comes to concrete spans...but I'm kinda thinking it might be a small Melan arch.

...Nathan?

Welch Avenue College Creek Bridge
Posted November 15, 2011, by Luke Harden (lmharden [at] iastate [dot] edu)

What arch type would this be classified as?

College Creek Bridge
Posted August 5, 2011, by Luke Harden (lmharden [at] iastate [dot] edu)

Also another fun fact about this bridge, this bridge was extant before lincoln way (then called boone street) was even paved