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Butler Bridge

Miami County, Indiana
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Photos 

Photo taken by Tom Hall

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Map 

Link to Iron Bridges Festival 

Written by James Norwood

http://www.ironbridgefestival.com/index.html

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Eel River on CR 950 North
Location
Miami County, Indiana
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1903 by the Pan American Bridge Company.
Builder
- Pan American Bridge Co. of New Castle, Indiana
Design
Pinned Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 140.1 ft.
Total length: 286.0 ft.
Deck width: 17.7 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.5 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.90472, -85.96556   (decimal degrees)
40°54'17" N, 85°57'56" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/587124/4528695 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Roann
Inventory numbers
INNBI 5200041 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 16646 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 06/2011)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 30.7 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
100

Categories 

Built 1903 (268)
Built during 1900s (4,247)
Eel River (Northern Indiana) (31)
Indiana (3,348)
Miami County, Indiana (56)
NR-eligible (3,751)
One-lane traffic (7,112)
Open (28,320)
Owned by county (16,492)
Pan American Bridge Co. (25)
 Pratt through truss (3,166)
Pratt truss (5,660)
Select (538)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,955)
Structurally deficient (16,683)
Through truss (9,211)
Total length 250-500 feet (3,371)
Truss (23,575)
Wooden deck (5,398)

Update Log 

  • January 28, 2010: New photos from Anthony Dillon
  • April 28, 2009: Essay added by James Norwood
  • February 5, 2009: Updated by Anthony Dillon
  • June 23, 2008: Updated by Anthony Dillon: common name, builder, and truss type

Sources 

  • Tom Hall - thomas [dot] hall [at] ffni [dot] com
  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • James Norwood
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Comments 

Butler Bridge
Posted February 28, 2010, by Bob Hammitt (bobhammitt [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Here are a few photos from 2-27-10. I have visited the Denniston bridge, the one just west of Chili that is closed to traffic and now the Butler bridge.

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Uploaded file: JPEG image data, EXIF standard 2.21, 277398 bytes

Eel River Bridge
Posted April 1, 2007, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Tom

Thanks for posting the pictures of the Butler Bridge. Being the oldest surviving and most ornate Pan Am (that was built in my hometown), makes it very special to me. The county was planning it's demise, to the point where I had even talked about moving part of it home. Fortunately there has been enought of a fuss raised that they have apparently backed down for now. Fine by me, it's a nice location and I like them preserved in place when possible. I just hope they take the next step and restore it!

Tony