Hopefully the recent restoration of the Alton Bridge will give hope to a better repair job to this bridge in the near future.
In any other state, the sign would say "modern bridge ahead replaced historic bridge 5 years ago".
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.
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/
There's more than corn in Indiana