Gartin Ford Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Pony Plate Girder bridge over Clifty Creek on County Road 200 South
- Location
- Decatur County, Indiana
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1912
- Builder
- - Central States Bridge Co. of Indianapolis, Indiana
- Design
- Continuous steel girder-floor beam system
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 72.2 ft.
Total length: 150.9 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Also called
- Bridge #131
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.30556, -85.68516 (decimal degrees)
39°18'20" N, 85°41'07" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/613364/4351509 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Hartsville
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 180
- Inventory numbers
- INNBI 1600107 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 46540 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of May 2018)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 46.2 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- May 27, 2020: New photo from Tony Dillon
- October 18, 2016: New photos from Mike Daffron
- February 9, 2016: New photo from J.P.
- September 30, 2012: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added builder
- September 16, 2012: Updated by Tony Dillon: Adj. coordinates
- August 29, 2011: New photo from Chris Wanninger
- October 16, 2010: Added by James Baughn
Sources
- Chris Wanninger
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Mike Daffron - daffmikron [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
I thought I had seen this bridge on here before, that's why I didn't take too many pictures. It looks like brand new, and I believe it has new concrete abutments and supports. It looks like an old railroad bridge to me, is that a possibility?
Now What in the world! I sure didn't know that the county fixed this bridge up, painted, replaced the deck, and reopened this bridge for traffic until I saw this picture. I thought AECON Engineering wouldn't allow this. The bridge had been closed for at least two years because of either a cracked floor beam or other superstructure problems. The deck was probably concrete over corrogated metal which gets heavy and the metal rusts away. Thought it was going to the dumpster. That makes me wonder why one of the through trusses in the county could not have been restored for what it was built for. Like in the Robbins Ford, the trusses could have been worked on and the deck could have been replaced by steel for the weight of most traffic plus it is on a little used road. Plate girder is better than UCEB. Decatur County has thrown away most of its plate girder bridges, but AECON allowed let them to fix this one. I can give credit for this, but wonder why not one of the through trusses.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/decatur/gartin-ford/
No...it was built for road use Chris.
Although plate girders were far less common on roadways than trusses, there are a few sprinkled here and there.
This span was likely built by the Central States Bridge Company of Indianapolis. Central States built many of these in the first couple of decades of the 20th century, and a nearby plate girder in Shelby County is one of theirs.
I missed this one before when I visited the Galbreath Bridge just across the line in Bartholomew County, so I will have to check it out the next time I get that way.