Chimney Rock Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Upper Iowa River on Chimney Rock Road
- Location
- Winneshiek County, Iowa
- Status
- Closed to all traffic
- History
- Built 1906 by the Continental Bridge Co. Relocated here in 1952- is the first bridge built at this location.
- Builder
- - Continental Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois (1903- 1907)
- Design
- Pin-connected, 10-panel Parker through truss with Town Lattice portal bracing
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 158.1 ft.
Total length: 162.1 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.5 ft.
- Also called
- Snell Bridge (prior to 1952)
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +43.42150, -91.93510 (decimal degrees)
43°25'17" N, 91°56'06" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/586202/4808174 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Bluffton
- Land survey
- T. 99 N., R. 9 W., Sec. 5
- Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
- 25
- Inventory numbers
- IA 348790 (Iowa bridge number)
BH 14723 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of March 2016)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 21.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- November 18, 2017: Added photos from James Baughn
- June 25, 2017: Updated by James Baughn: Field visit reveals this bridge is closed to traffic
- April 26, 2017: New photos from Kevin Skow
- October 11, 2012: Updated by Jason Smith: Added category "Town lattice portal bracing"
- February 1, 2012: Updated by Jason Smith: Added information on the bridge- bridge was moved to this location in 1952
- January 30, 2011: New photos from Benjamin Cole
- September 30, 2009: New photos from Jason Smith
- December 19, 2005: Posted photos from Jason and Birgit Smith
Sources
- Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
- Benjamin Cole - mountainjam99 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
- Kevin Skow - weatherbum [at] hotmail [dot] com
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
Comments
It's always money and risk as far as I've been able to ascertain. Oh, and old white male supervisors that make those budgetary decisions. This bridge isn't far from the disaster at the bowstring. Gravel companies and big ag drive the bus up there. 400 crossings in that county.
Yes, it certainly should be left standing as the last inspection report gives no indication that it will collapse anytime in the near future. But beyond that the ADT count on this bridge is ridiculously low, and the small area it serves appears to be as much forest as agriculture. This bridge has served that area for 114 years and I see no reason it couldn't have be rehabbed for continued use.
His comment about ignorance was referring to the county's desire to remove the bridge instead of leaving it as-is for pedestrian usage.
Not ignorance really. Too many bridges with ag traffic. Small county budgets. How would you make those decisions Tony? They know what they have, or had. Saved a few I guess but are there solutions you could share for the county engineers?
Winneshiek County continues to flaunt their ignorance.
I hadn't noticed the plaques on this one before... Identical to Massillon plaques from the 1880's.
A new bridge has been built on new alignment and while the bridge is still standing it sounds like they plan demolition eventually. https://www.decorahnews.com/news-stories/2020/10/26607.html
It was the supervisors in this case.
The article has been archived but I wrote an update on this bridge: http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2017/06/06/chimney-roc...
Probably one of the best saves Bjerke has made in his career sofar.
Repair vs. replacement recommended!!:
Continental Bridge Co. from Alexandria Mn. didn't exist until some time in the 1980's. Prior to this a Continental Bridge Co. existed in Peotone Illinois with it's headquarters in Chicago. This was from 1903 - 1948. The assets of the company were bought by Bennett Industries who continued bridge and structural work until 1977.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ia/winneshiek/chimney-rock/
This bridge is also locally known as Snell's bridge as the old stone house to the east of it was built by the Snell family in the late 1860's-early 1870's. The attached pictures were taken 11/1/2020 and 11/4/2020.