Conrail Marion Branch US 24 overpass bridge
Photos
Replacement
Looking East. Old bridge was directly behind this new one.
Photo taken by James Norwood
Quick history of removal due to construction.
Written by James NorwoodWhen this bridge was built, then US 24 went right through the heart of downtown Wabash. With that in mind, this bridge was probably built to carry the former New York Central Railroad over a former county road. Later, US 24 was rerouted around Wabash with 4 lanes(probably 1970's) up to the point where Indiana 13 met US 24 where it then went to a 2 lane setup East of here and continued under this rail bridge on the way to Huntington. In the mid 1990's, construction of the new "Hoosier Heartland Highway" which is to stretch from Ft. Wayne to Lafayette when completed called for the entire highway to be built to 4 lane limited access standards. For many years the sight of this bridge would tell travelers heading West on US 24 they were nearing Wabash, but it's 2 lane width was in the way of progress. Conrail Railroad(Norfolk Southern now) and the State of Indiana embarked on a project to build a new, over the wider highway right of way, immediately West of the old bridge. After completion, the railroad realigned their rail to the new bridge, and removed the old line rails and bridge. Today, you can see part of the approach fill of the old alignment beside the new pony plate girder bridge which carry the Norfolk Southern Railway trains between Goshen and Anderson daily.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Steel stringer bridge over Us 24 on Norfolk Southern Railway(nee Conrail, Penn Central, New York Central) in Wabash
- Location
- Wabash, Wabash County, Indiana
- Status
- Replaced by new bridge
- History
- Built 1927, Removed 1996 when New 4 lane US 24 built. New Pony plate girder built on West side of old bridge with new rail line alignment. US 24 probably old county road when old bridge built.
- Design
- Built for 2 lane road overpass.
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 24.0 ft.
Total length: 36.1 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.83167, -85.79333 (decimal degrees)
40°49'54" N, 85°47'36" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/601741/4520771 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Wabash
- Inventory numbers
- INNBI 006050 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 42637 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Average daily traffic (as of 1986)
- 6,100
Comments
For some reason I cannot upload to the site directly in this county's site, but here are a some photos of the current bridge. First two are of the West side as approaching while Eastbound on new US 24. Last is looking North just past the current bridge at the old location of the North side abutment of former bridge over the former single lane US 24 bypass. All from late July 2009.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/wabash/bh42637/