Sparks Ferry Bridge
Photos
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Portal Photos taken by Joshua Collins |
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Approach span |
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Photo taken by Joshua Collins |
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Photo taken by Joshua Collins |
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Photo taken by Joshua Collins |
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Photo taken by Joshua Collins |
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Photo taken in 1994. Photo taken by Anthony Dillon |
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Portal Detail Photo taken by Anthony Dillon in June 2009 |
Facts
- Overview
- Two-span through truss bridge over East Fork White River on Sparks Ferry Road
- Status
- Open to pedestrians only
- History
- Built ca. 1890; closed to traffic 2006
- Builder
- - Youngstown Bridge Co. of Youngstown, Ohio
- Design
- Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 175.8 ft.
Total length: 424.7 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 27.0 ft.
- Also called
- Sparksville Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.77776, -86.22704 (decimal degrees)
38°46'40" N, 86°13'37" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/567141/4292398 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Medora
- Inventory numbers
- INNBI 3600137 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 16354 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 04/2007)
- Deck condition rating: Critical (2 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Critical (2 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 22.4 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2000)
- 60
Update Log
- June 10, 2009: New photo from Anthony Dillon
- April 1, 2009: New photo from Anthony Dillon
- March 20, 2009: Updated by Joshua Collins
- October 31, 2008: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Name
- June 24, 2008: Updated by Anthony Dillon: Builder
- October 2, 2006: Posted photos from Joshua Collins
Sources
- Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
- Anthony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Robert Stephenson - seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Comments
It seems like ages since I last posted about the Sparks Ferry bridge but hopefully it's being maintained & kept on the up & up so that it's safe for pedestrians to walk across or simply to check out.
I saw this bridge today..11/28/06 it is closed to vehicle traffic but is open to foot traffic.really cool bridge...not many of these left around.
Bummer...hopefully it's preserved so people can still check it out. Just wondering if it is or not.
The bridge just closed in the last couple of weeks. New bridge is open about 1/4 mile away.
Someone finally got a pic of the Sparksville bridge & from what I've seen this is one of the most significant bridges not only in all of Jackson County (besides the Medora covered bridge) but also the whole state of Indiana. The most you can get on this puppy is 3 tons (FYI: check out the pic closely for further confirmation) but hey, it's a pretty nice bridge to check out nonetheless.
Just a few miles over, near Fort Ritner, is another through truss bridge over the East Fork of the White River; I don't know if it's still open or not, I could be wrong. But that, & the Sparksville bridge, are pretty much a big deal when it comes to historic through truss bridges in the Hoosier State, or at least southern Indiana.