Saline River US 183 Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Seven-span open-spandrel arch bridge over Saline River on US 183, 13.85 mi. north of I-70
- Location
- Ellis County, Kansas
- Status
- Preserved
- Future prospects
- Preserved
- History
- Built 1933; rehabilitated 1963, bypassed ca. 2009-2010
- Design
- Open-spandrel arch
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 80.0 ft.
Total length: 595.0 ft.
Deck width: 27.9 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.09710, -99.30571 (decimal degrees)
39°05'50" N, 99°18'21" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 14/473564/4327595 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Plainville SE
- Inventory numbers
- KDOT 0026-B0052 (Kansas Dept. of Transportation bridge number)
BH 17717 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 03/2009)
- Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 76.9 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
- 3,350
Update Log
- December 30, 2011: New Street View added by James McCray
- December 29, 2011: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited History.
- April 29, 2011: Updated by Robert Elder: Correction, to previous update - the bridge is almost certainly open to pedestrians.
- August 13, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited future prospects - preserved
- May 17, 2010: New Street View added by Robert Elder
- March 8, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Added Street View link
- July 29, 2008: New photo from Robert Elder
Sources
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
Comments
The old bridge is 100% open to foot traffic. There is a dirt access road below the bridge for those that wish to take a close look at the architecture.
Photo courtesy of "aftrek" from geocaching.com
The latest Google Earth imagery (25 September 2011) clearly indicates that this bridge has been bypassed. The new bridge is open to traffic. There is no longer any pavement leading to the old bridge, but it has been preserved and appears to be open to pedestrians.
Sheldon;
Structurally, this bridge is in very good condition, despite being nearly 80 years old. US 183 is being widened, and this bridge would be too narrow for the new road.
There was interest in preserving this bridge, both from locals and from within KDOT. Thus, KDOT elected to build a new bridge, but preserve the old structure. KDOT rightfully won an award for its role in retaining the old bridge.
I don't see any problem with this bridge. It is not at all in bad shape. Why are they going to make it a pedestrian bridge? Will this bridge be bypassed by a new one if it will be a pedestrian bridge?
This bridge appears to have been dropped from the NBI. Thus it is probably open to pedestrians instead of traffic. If anybody in the area can confirm, that would be great. The latest Google Earth imagery is from 2008, which was the year that construction on the new bridge was scheduled to begin. Street View, which is now a few years old still shows traffic using the old bridge.
This link contains images of the old bridge, and the new bridge being constructed to the West.
http://advancedlandsurveying.com/project_portfolio/staking_projects_ii
K-DOT Publication with an article concerning the bridge: http://165.201.199.23/bureaus/offTransInfo/TRANSLIN/May/May06.pdf
Or, if you prefer html: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9wZMKHnR3ZIJ:165.201.199.23/bureaus/offTransInfo/TRANSLIN/May/May06.pdf+saline+river+bridge+183&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
K-DOT, KPA, and others involved deserve a standing ovation for this one!
Brief article concerning the replacement and preservation of this bridge.
This is a seven span, double ribbed, open spandrel concrete arch bridge.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/ellis/saline-183/