Rating:
3 votes

Bois D'Arc Bridge

Butler County, Kansas

Photos 

Photo taken by Robert Elder

Enlarge

BH Photo #110268

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Little Walnut River, 3.8 mi. east and 0.5 mi. north of Gordon
Location
Butler County, Kansas
Status
Closed. Formerly open to traffic with a 6'6" height restriction.
History
Built 1885
Builder
- Kansas City Bridge & Iron Co. of Kansas City, Missouri
Design
Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 196.8 ft.
Deck width: 13.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.5 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 9, 2003
Also called
Little Walnut River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+37.59633, -96.92350   (decimal degrees)
37°35'47" N, 96°55'25" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
14/683316/4163055 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Gordon
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
50
Inventory numbers
KS 000080865806307 (Kansas local bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
NRHP 03000377 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 17496 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of February 2017)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 20.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

19th Century (8,397)
Built 1885 (203)
Built during 1880s (2,174)
Butler County, Kansas (119)
Closed (2,761)
Have street view (28,916)
Kansas (3,269)
Kansas City Bridge & Iron Co. (17)
NR-listed (3,014)
One-lane traffic (7,837)
 Owned by county (21,612)
Pin-connected (4,712)
Pratt through truss (6,061)
Pratt truss (10,305)
Span length 100-125 feet (4,554)
Through truss (16,816)
Total length 175-250 feet (4,481)
Truss (35,500)
Wooden deck (6,162)
Wrought Iron (417)

Update Log 

  • August 29, 2021: New photos from Nick Schmiedeler
  • December 29, 2017: Updated by Robert Elder: Closed
  • November 23, 2014: New photos from Rob Brock
  • January 21, 2011: Updated by Robert Elder: Moved the alternate name to the appropriate blank
  • May 19, 2010: New Street View added by Robert Elder
  • March 8, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Added Street View link.
  • February 11, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Status Description
  • January 21, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Adjusted GPS Coordinates
  • July 8, 2009: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Categories.
  • November 10, 2008: New photo from Robert Elder
  • July 23, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Updated Builders and Categories.
  • March 2, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited "Year Built" and "History"
  • February 27, 2008: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited "Name" "Design" and NRHP

Sources 

  • Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Rob Brock - k0pvw [dot] mobile [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Nick Schmiedeler - nick [at] nickschmiedeler [dot] com
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Comments 

Bois D'Arc Bridge
Posted August 29, 2021, by Nick Schmiedeler (nick [at] nickschmiedeler [dot] com)

First photos in a while, can visit by approaching from south side roads only, still pretty solid, love the curly Q's in the lattice rail, have never seen before, both plaques intact, very low water here at moment, a gem

Bois D'Arc Bridge
Posted May 10, 2019, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

This bridge is also under siege by floodwaters:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=MHv2McL2_pc

The Little Walnut River, and the Whitewater River, are both tributaries to the Walnut River. These are beautiful rivers, but they are also prone to disastrous flooding.

Bois D'Arc Bridge
Posted December 29, 2017, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

This bridge has been closed to traffic. The Butler County Government did a very interesting write-up on their Facebook page about this bridge. I have high confidence that it's going to be preserved, whether or not it reopens to traffic someday. Butler County seems to do a very good job of retaining its historic bridges.

I believe the Butler County has five 1880s wrought iron bridges with one of them being on private property. The county also has a noteworthy collection of stone arch bridges and concrete through girder bridges.

Bois D'Arc Bridge or Little Walnut River Bridge
Posted January 21, 2010, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

The new map feature has been a great addition to this website. This has allowed me to make fine adjustments to the GPS Coordinates of many bridges.

Bois D'Arc Bridge or Little Walnut River Bridge
Posted July 8, 2009, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

I have added "wrought iron" to categories for this bridge considering the builders and the construction date of 1885. This seems appropriate unless proven otherwise.

Little Walnut River Bridge
Posted April 1, 2007, by Robert L. Elder (bass-tbn [at] ku [dot] edu)

This bridge is also known as the Bois d'arc Bridge. This bridge, in Butler County, Kansas carries Purity Springs Road over the Little Walnut River at the town of Bois d'arc. The main span is a 6 panel pin connected Pratt through truss. This bridge, which was built in 1885 by the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company, is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.