Mill Creek Bridge
Description
This beautiful little bridge has been subjected to some horrific repairs in recent years. A brace was welded to the South portal that hides the lovely cast portal decorations unique to this company. Every cylindrical eyebar was replaced with steel rods with large clamp fittings that look terrible.Hopefully the recent restoration of the Alton Bridge will give hope to a better repair job to this bridge in the near future.
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Mill Creek on CR 220 East
- Location
- Crawford County, Indiana
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Future prospects
- At risk for demolition and replacement. As of 2019 a "This Historic Bridge May Be Replaced" sign is posted at this bridge.
- History
- Built 1885; rehabilitated 2000
- Builder
- - Indianapolis Bridge Co. of Indianapolis, Indiana
- Design
- Wrought iron, pin-connected Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 100.7 ft.
Total length: 104.0 ft.
Deck width: 13.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.3 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Also called
- Crawford County Bridge #42
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.13026, -86.41853 (decimal degrees)
38°07'49" N, 86°25'07" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/550961/4220427 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Beechwood
- Average daily traffic (as of 2015)
- 539
- Inventory numbers
- INNBI 1300033 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 15979 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of September 2017)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 1 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- May 28, 2019: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge may be doomed.
- October 14, 2017: New photos from Mike Daffron
- April 15, 2010: New Street View added by J.P.
- February 20, 2010: Updated by Robert Stephenson: HAER data
- August 18, 2008: Updated by Anthony Dillon
- January 30, 2008: New photos from James McCray
Sources
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- HAER IN-23 - Mill Creek Bridge, Mill Creek, Alton vicinity, Crawford County, IN
- Robert Stephenson - seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Mike Daffron - daffmikron [at] gmail [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
Comments
In response the the comments of "redneck" repairs and such on this truss, as a contractor, we can only do the repairs that a qualified engineering firm specs out in the INDOT approved plans. Sometimes these repairs work out great and some times they do not. We (CLR Inc) have repaired two other truss bridges there in Crawford County, the other two I believe most will agree are very nice. While I agree that this particular bridge could have been repaired in a more historically correct way, it was done as the plans directed us.
I believe this bridge is about to be replaced by a new concrete bridge, and this truss will be gone from Crawford county soon.
Dehabilitation. I like that word!
At least some of the alterations are reversible. For instance, the cast iron knee braces were left in place.
Nathan,
You hit it on the spot! But one could add UCEBs as examples of redneck bridge replacements as they're just as hideous as these fix-it-up rehabs, or what Tony Dillon coined "Dehabilitation." Thanks for the link. ;-)
Nathan.......you truly must be truss psychic!!
Jason Smith and myself were just talking about the ghastly repairs on this otherwise beautiful span earlier this evening!
I was telling him that this "dehabilitation" happened several years ago. I am hopeful that with the recent and mostly "in-kind" rehabilitation of the Alton Bridge, there is hope that this ornate span can be reformed to an acceptable state!
Its a Redneck Repair! Submit it to http://thereifixedit.com/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/crawford/1300033/
Very true Dan! You guys work from plans that are of someone else's design. And if that engineering firm has little to no experience with in-kind restoration then this is to be expected. Having worked with CLR in the past I can attest that your firm does indeed do good work!
If the county does opt to replace this little span then hopefully they will follow the protocol of the "Select" status and this bridge will be safe. They would have to pay out-of-pocket to circumvent that and I doubt Crawford County has the money to do so.