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19336
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Lower Bridge, Bondsville
Description
"Second oldest of the 22 known Pratt pony truss bridges in the MDPW database. Although the original deck and stringers have been replaced, and a pair of steel I-beams on two H-column bents not does most, if not all, of the structural work, the original trusses, floorbeams, and lower lateral system appear largely intact. Structurally, the original bridge is unusual in a number of respects: the floorbeams are skewed 12 degrees from perpendicular to the trusses; the patented Wrought Iron bridge Co. verticals are used (the only other known examples in the database appear in N-16-3); the hip verticals combine a latticed WIBCo vertical and a looped road floorbeam hanger which passes over the upper chord pin (there is no lower chord pin, or connection, here); and, odd iron castings are used to maintain the alignment of the lower chord eyebars as they pass through the WIBCo verticals at the hips. In a pleasant, if unkempt, landscape setting, and historically part of an industrial community above it." -S.J. Roper, 5/11/1989
N-16-3 bridge referenced: http://bridgehunter.com/ma/bristol/cushman-road/
Facts
- Overview
- Pratt Pony Truss bridge over Swift River on River Street in Belchertown
- Location
- Belchertown, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
- Status
- Replaced by a new bridge
- History
- Built 1880; lost 2005
- Builder
- - Wrought Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
- Design
- Pratt pony truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 77.0 ft.
Total length: 79.1 ft.
Deck width: 17.0 ft.
- Skew angle
- 12 degrees
- Also called
- Swift River Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.21079, -72.34646 (decimal degrees)
42°12'39" N, 72°20'47" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/719040/4676590 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Palmer
- Inventory numbers
- MA B05002 (Massachusetts bridge number)
BH 19336 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- May 22, 2020: Photo imported by Ian Martin
- May 20, 2017: Updated by Chester Gehman: Bridge replaced