Rating:
3 votes

Little Osage River Bridge

Bourbon County, Kansas
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Photos 

Photo taken by Robert Elder

Map 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Little Osage River on 35th Street
Location
Bourbon County, Kansas
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built in 1896 by the Wrought Iron Bridge Co.
Builder
- Wrought Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
Design
Nine panel, pin connected Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 170.9 ft.
Total length: 172.9 ft.
Deck width: 12.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 17.6 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.02113, -95.04152   (decimal degrees)
38°01'16" N, 95°02'29" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/320802/4210126 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Blue Mound
Inventory numbers
KS 000061069005721 (Kansas local bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 17401 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 11/2011)
Deck condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 16.9 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2006)
20

Categories 

19th Century (3,851)
Bourbon County, Kansas (30)
Built 1896 (139)
Built during 1890s (1,560)
Kansas (2,289)
One-lane traffic (7,119)
Open (28,454)
Owned by county (16,526)
Pin-connected (1,568)
Pratt through truss (3,184)
 Pratt truss (5,687)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,966)
Structurally deficient (16,730)
Through truss (9,254)
Total length 125-175 feet (4,156)
Truss (23,615)
Wooden deck (5,415)
Wrought Iron Bridge Co. (197)
Wrought iron (230)

Update Log 

  • November 16, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Categories
  • December 20, 2009: Updated by Joshua Collins: changed GPS coordinates
  • November 15, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Categories
  • November 9, 2008: New photo from Ruth Reynolds
  • July 7, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Categories
  • February 28, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited "Year Built" and "History"

Sources 

  • Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Ruth Reynolds - ruthmusic [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
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Comments 

Little Osage River Bridge
Posted November 16, 2010, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Good to hear from the expert!

Little Osage River Bridge
Posted November 16, 2010, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Some builders would push conventional limits when it came the length of their Pratt trusses. The Lafayette Bridge Company was building Pratt's in the 1890's up to around 190 feet long that would have required a Whipple truss 10 years earlier. The Elkhart Bridge & Iron Company trumped that in the 2nd decade of the 20th century by hitting 200 ft. with a single span Pratt.

Along with the length of these spans extra height was needed to increase the depth of the trusses. Usually, these spans are fitted with substantial sway bracing to manage the added height. This span is surprising in that only 2 panel points have added bracing, with the remainder using only laced struts.

More impressive to me than the height of this bridge is the size of the panels. If the length given is correct, then these panels are pushing 19 ft. which is impressive. It also further helps to explain why the trusses are so tall.

Little Osage River Bridge
Posted November 16, 2010, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

That is an interesting question, especially as the bridge has such a narrow deck width. This bridge does seem to have a rather tall truss.

Little Osage River Bridge
Posted November 16, 2010, by B Lauver (bllauver [at] toad [dot] net)

Does anyone know why it was built with such a high vertical clearance?