Beaver Creek Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Pratt pony truss bridge over Beaver Creek on Old US 68
- Location
- Barren County, Kentucky
- Status
- Closed to all traffic
- History
- Bypassed 1956
- Design
- Pratt pony truss
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.01364, -85.82307 (decimal degrees)
37°00'49" N, 85°49'23" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/604702/4097033 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Hiseville
- Inventory number
- BH 44084 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 15, 2011: New photo from Mike Page
- July 23, 2010: New Street View added by Andrew Hansford
- February 11, 2010: Added by James Baughn
Comments
I guess a lot of us are members of the Bridgehunter "dumb luck" club. I found this span that was listed as being gone while driving to the beautiful "Triple Whipple" Laughery Creek Bridge. I have made a habit of looking both ways.....when crossing a new bridge. I didn't have to look very far to see this one http://bridgehunter.com/in/dearborn/1500003/
So Mike.......welcome to the club!
Mike, you said, "I do more reading about other people's finds than hunting myself, so I count this as a total stroke of dumb luck."
Welcome to the club! Sometimes, you're just better off lucky than good. ;)
This is a great find, too!
The bridge has a couple of spots displaying some pretty significant impact damage. This section of railing is curled nearly double. And nearly half of the rail section welded between the trusses on the same side is hanging loose and partially resting on top the pier.
I'm so sorry JB. I was just looking at the map where you'd plotted the bridge and realized that I got my directions mixed up. It is the EAST approach that is still open as a county road, not the west. I was thinking "headed west". A duh moment on my part.
I took a total of 16 pictures, and still have them in full size (over 3000 pixels) if any of them might be of any help.
I was sitting on US-68 heading west, waiting for an accident to be cleared from a small bridge and was just kind of looking around. I overlooked this thing several times before I realized what I was looking at. There is an old truss bridge a couple hundred yards upriver from the current bridge. It's hidden pretty well by the trees. After traffic got moving I puttered around a bit and found that the east approach is barricaded and marked "road closed". But, from the west, it is still marked and opened as a country road, so I was able to drive all the way up to the rail closing the bridge. There were no markings or plaques on it anywhere that I could find. I didn't stay long, I was cold and being wimpy. But, I got GPS coordinates for anyone interested in checking it out. It's near Lecta, KY on US-68. The center of the bridge is 37 degrees, 00'49.05" by 85 degrees, 49'23.20". I do more reading about other people's finds than hunting myself, so I count this as a total stroke of dumb luck.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ky/barren/beaver-creek/
I took a little detour yesterday and drove old US 68 again. This time of year with the leaves gone the old bridge is visible. And, it's still hanging in there.