Dewlen-Spohnhauer Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Four-span through arch over the Verdigris River on Old US 160 just east of Independence
- Location
- Montgomery County, Kansas
- Status
- Open to traffic on a paved frontage road
- Future prospects
- Preserved
- History
- Built 1926; made obsolete by new bridge in 1960
- Design
- Concrete through arch
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 408.0 ft.
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on March 10, 1983
- Also called
- Verdigris Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.22451, -95.67868 (decimal degrees)
37°13'28" N, 95°40'43" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/262340/4123140 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Independence
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 83000436 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
KS 000630999706820 (Kansas local bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 18176 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 12/2011)
- Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 46.6 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
- 250
Update Log
- May 18, 2010: New Street View added by Robert Elder
- March 8, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Added Street View link.
- February 3, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Made slight adjustment to GPS Coordinates.
- December 8, 2009: Updated by Robert Elder: Added Marsh arch to Categories
Comments
The Mackinac Bridge is definitely on my list. I would visit and photograph bridges in any state, I have mostly focused on Kansas because that is the area with which I am most familar. The shear number of bridges in Kansas (nice problem) has kept me busy. I am still discovering bridges that I had no idea existed, and ones that I thought had been demolished years ago.
Thanks Robert
I agree with you totally. Actually, I would love to see more bridges saved "functional" versus abandoned. I like to really see more metal trusses spared. One such example is the Mt Carmel bridge in Illinois. The ugly UCEB is parallel to the truss. By the words of bridgefans, the truss is not in too bad relating to condition. I wish only the plans were to make it a functional "alternate route" as you described with the Marsh arch here. Seeing future pics of the Mt Carmel truss getting razed, then gone will be tragic.
Furthermore, keep posting Kansas bridges on here as you have been. I live in Ohio but all historic bridges, to me, are special no matter what state they are in
See the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan someday. That bridge started my fondness for historic bridges.
There used to be a triple span Marsh Arch over the Elk River on US 75 just north of this bridge. That one did meet the wrecking ball.
Reply to Todd:
This is a good preservation story. The main highway was moved to a new bridge, but the old highway remains open to traffic. Thus this bridge still receives a few cars and some maintenance which in my opinion is much preferable to abandonment.
I like seeing a monumental bridge "spared" such as this beauty here. Marsh arches that get pulled down, as I seen on this site, are as terrible as trusses. For granted,some bridges are too deteriorated to keep. The appalling thing is destroying "preservable" bridges. I totally agree with a lot of the bridge buffs like me whom use this site, some bridges are worth saving.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/montgomery/dewlen/