Rating:
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Fourth Street Bridge

Allen County, Indiana
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Photos 

Photo taken by Tony Dillon in July 2011

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Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Concrete arch bridge over Spy Run Creek on Fourth Street in Fort Wayne
Location
Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1921
Builders
- Grosvenor, A.W.
- H.W. Tapp Construction
Design
Reinforced concrete deck arch with Melan style reinforcing.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 56.1 ft.
Total length: 100.0 ft.
Deck width: 30.1 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.08806, -85.13528   (decimal degrees)
41°05'17" N, 85°08'07" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/656620/4550207 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Fort Wayne West
Inventory numbers
INNBI 0200261 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 15784 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2010)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 67.6 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
3,000

Categories 

Allen County, Indiana (47)
Arch (9,418)
Built 1921 (389)
Built during 1920s (7,031)
Closed-spandrel arch (2,754)
Concrete balustrade (424)
Deck arch (8,695)
Fort Wayne, Indiana (22)
Grosvenor, A.W. (3)
H.W. Tapp Construction (4)
 Have street view (9,883)
Indiana (3,348)
Melan arch (12)
NR-eligible (3,749)
Open (28,305)
Owned by county (16,484)
Select (538)
Span length 50-75 feet (6,995)
Total length 100-125 feet (3,632)

Update Log 

  • December 3, 2012: Updated by Nathan Holth: This is a Melan style arch.
  • July 30, 2011: New photos from Tony Dillon
  • October 16, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn
  • March 6, 2010: Updated by J.P.: updated builders

Sources 

  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Nathan Holth
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Comments 

Fourth Street Bridge
Posted December 6, 2012, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

Melan and the more common Luten require knowledge of the inside to differentiate. I figured you had documentation but a peek inside works too.

The link to the page on your site gives a great look at the Melan system used here--great documentation.

Fourth Street Bridge
Posted December 4, 2012, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

I initially discovered it had Melan reinforcing because a portion of the arch had spalled, revealing the tell-tale steel ribs. That's the only way you can ever tell in the field. If the bridge is not deteriorated, its impossible to tell. However, later, I also looked the bridge up in the Historic Bridge Inventory and they had found some primary source documents that also mentioned the Melan reinforcing.

Hot off the press, I have a page for this bridge online which also briefly discusses Melan arches in general and has a couple photos that I think help explain how the Melan arch works. http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=indiana/4thstreetbridge/

Fourth Street Bridge
Posted December 4, 2012, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I'm a truss lover that is still learning when it comes to these arches, but I do remember Jim Cooper talking about this bridge in his notes as being a Melan design.

Fourth Street Bridge
Posted December 4, 2012, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

Nathan-- How did you figure out this was a Melan?