Recent Michigan Comments

It seems Section 106 will apply to any repairs/replacement of this bridge. I have only seen a couple crappy newspaper photos and a description from newspapers which can often be inaccurate, but it appears the end panels of the trusses of one leaf were severely damaged, and based on description, possibly may have been damaged or physically shifted in the area of the trunnion. This is all speculation based on the limited sources mentioned above. I will be monitoring this bridge's status closely. If the end panels are damaged on the leaf as it appears, you could consider a project similar to the ongoing Wells Street Bridge in Chicago, and just replace the damaged panels with replicas.

I think this guy is in the running for the biggest bonehead award for 2013! Like the Traer Bridge, I'm afraid this bridge will become a victim of stupidity and will be demolished and replaced! ;-C

How stupid does one have to be to do this? Look out the window and see if the enormous mass of steel called a freighter is no longer visible under the bridge. Then, and only then, lower the bridge. This is not complicated or difficult. What an idiot.

Bridgetender arrested on suspicion of intoxication.

"Friends don't let friends operate bridges drunk."

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130512/METRO01/305120355/1409/metro/Bridge-operator-arrested-after-Jefferson-Ave-span-falls-freighter

Freighter Herbert C. Jackson collides with Jefferson Street Bridge in Detroit. Bridge is impassible until further notice.

Frank,

Thank you for posting your pictures.

Regards,

Art S.

Collapse

Pictures of the bridge

I was in San Francisco for the past several days so I only got up to photo-document the demise of this bridge today. I have a full photo gallery of the collapsed bridge available here: http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/photos.php?bridgebrowser=truss/maplerap/&gallerynum=6&gallerysize=1

Does anyone have any pics of the bridge? I'm looking for a couple to add in an article I'm writing.

Thanks

Yes,It is on it's side.

Frank,

Thanks for the info. What do you meanly 'just folded'. Is it just on it's side or has it buckled in some other way?

Regards,

Art S.

The one side with no support was tipped in the water when we got there from the town side,I would think it happened sometime in the morning,We went around to the other side and I stood in front of the bridge,it made a groaning noise and a couple of rocks popped out.Wife said move so I moved over in front of the old stone house on the river.we heard more plopping of stones,Wind was blowing,after about 20 minutes a gust of wind and the wife said it is going over,so after 120 some years it went over on its side,without muh ado,just some splashing.I went back to the front of the bridge it looks like it just folded.To say the least we were in shock.i said there were people there when it opened and someone at the end.

Could it be pulled out of the water?Yes but if flooding occurs,there are some downed trees in the water.

Looked to me that when the stone fell out the bridge tipped over and went sideways into the river. Be interesting to see if it broke at the floor beams.

Thanks Frank,

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what is going on in the first picture. In the second picture, it looks like one truss on it's side.

How badly broken are the trusses? Did the bridge break apart or just roll over?

Regards,

Art S.

Bad quality pictures

I have some pictures on my trace phone,retrieving them may prove to be a problem.I posted a couple of pictures on facebook under my name poor quality.

This bridge was on our radar and we tried to find a home for years. Tis a shame we can't get these pulled to safety. Our nonprofit is planning a restaurant river adventure that will eventually be able to provide funds for these at risk spans.

Too late for this one. It will cost the county more now to pull it out of the river.

Thanks Luke,

I am very aware or those pictures. I meant are there any pictures of the bridge collapsing and/or In the river?

Regards,

Art S.

You can find some pictures here: http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=truss/maplerap/

Any pictures?

A sad ending to a little through truss that stood valiantly for many years while neglect and Mother Nature took it's toll. I had truly hoped that this elder example of the obscure Variety Irons Works might be moved before this could happen.

Sad to say it is in the river,when we arrived it was partially over,we could hear the rocks falling out of the foundation on the bad side.It was groaning,within 20 miuntes it fell over into the river.

He lied to me then. Good to see it still standing.

I made a field visit to this bridge today and I did not see any evidence of the damage mentioned below. There are a couple sections of wooden planks missing, but those have been missing for many years. I attach a photo of the bridge as of January 16, 2013.

According to my uncle who lives out there, the bridge is gone as of Jan 5th 2013 after a random collapse due to snow. He went out there and the bridge wood was gone, but the metal is all still standing.

I visited this bridge 11-5-2012. It is located on a Marl Rd. a narrow, dirt road, dead-end at 1/2 Mile Rd. in Calhoun Co. A hole has been burned through it and a board placed over it. It is a true hidden, rusty relic. I enjoyed tracking it down.

I offer admiration to all who are or were involved with the upkeep of the Mighty Mac. I asked my girlfriend to marry me right next to the bridge on Sept 21st. Can't wait for the new orthotropic deck planned for it soon. Worth the $4 toll. AWESOME bridge!

Main Span length 3800 feet. I was engineer for cable construction, 1956.

This bridge should be linked to the Pere Marquette Railroad category.

This bridge should be linked to the Pere Marquette Railroad category.

Looks like a correct call to me Luke!

I classified this as a deck truss, feel free to correct me.

This is an unusual name known to cartophiles. Quoting Wikipedia:

The name was derived from the surname initials of the eight founding settlers of 1881: John Grant, Matthew Edge, George Robinson, Thaddeus Mead, Dr. W. W. French, Ezekiel Ackley, Oscar (O.D.) Sheppard, and Hezekiah Knaggs.

Now you know....

Bridge opens on the half hour.

This bridge was built and paid for by the City of Detroit's Department of Parks and Boulevards in 1895. I believe it replaced an earlier (and uglier) bridge that was probably built by Michigan Central Railroad.

The first photo was distributed as part of a 1918 pamphlet on railroad grade-separation by a division of Detroit’s Department of Public Works. It looks northward along West Grand Boulevard, and shows Michigan Central’s Bay City Junction Tower (left), just west of the 1895 arch bridge. Most describe this as a stone-arch bridge, but I concede that a masonry veneer may cover a concrete-arch sub-structure.

In 1918, a clearance of 13 feet under the bridge was claimed. This figure probably resulted from measuring at the center of the arch. Today, yellow warning signs show a minimum clearance of only eight feet, ten inches, measuring at the curb line, making this the shortest clearance on a public street in Detroit.

The bridge was built with four stairwells, one at each corner. Two are visible in the 1918 photo. All four are still extant, but overgrown and unusable. The original railing was replaced by a concrete barrier topped by a tall chain-link fence. The bridge deck is wide enough for seven or eight parallel tracks, but currently there are only four.

The 1918 pamphlet states that arch bridges should not be used in future grade-separation work in Detroit. They tend to reduce natural light, and do not provide an even clearance across all lanes. Reinforced-concrete would be used for grade-separation bridges in Detroit during the 1920s and 1930s, with a few exceptions. The West Grand Boulevard Bridge would remain as the one-and-only railroad arch bridge in Detroit.

The second photo, from Detroit Public Library’s Burton Collection (EB02d025), appears to be a southward view of a previous Michigan Central Railroad bridge over West Grand Boulevard.

The angle and appearance of the tower make me believe that this is the same Bay City Junction Tower seen in the first photo. Bay City Junction, which got its name from the Detroit & Bay City Railroad, did not exist before 1872. The tower was demolished years ago, but railroad workers still refer to this point as Bay City Junction – although the tracks end less than two miles north of Utica, only 22 miles north of downtown Detroit.

The five-span open-deck-girder bridge appears to be wide enough for only one or two tracks – it might pre-date the Junction. The eastern roadway (left) provided a higher clearance than the fenced-off western side (or the current arch bridge) – perhaps the eastern part of the bridge was newer, built specifically for the new boulevard. Massive stone abutments stood at both ends of the structure – I wonder if they are still buried there?

View attachment #1 (GLS_BINARY_LSB_FIRST, 1075002 bytes)

View attachment #2 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 1119 x 555 x 24, 1864854 bytes)

Amen to that comment, brother. It's like once they developed reinforced concrete bridges, nothing else would do - and nobody gave a thought to longevity. We have a similar situation here in Oregon where they built some stunningly beautiful reinforced concrete bridges on Highway 101 - only to discover that the concrete absorbs salt water, the iron reinforcing rods rust and swell, cracking the concrete and dooming the bridges. They've already had to replace the Alsea bay bridge, and they've installed electrolysis devises on other bridges to try to prevent the rust damage - a stop gap measure at best. And now, even if you wanted to replace a concrete bridge with an iron truss bridge, good luck finding a bridge company that still manufactures them. I suspect most of them have gone out of business because everybody was building concrete bridges instead...

Green photos taken 09/27/09

Photos taken 9/27/09

Photos taken 11/14/10

Interesting pedestrian bridge across the road.

Photo taken 11/14/10

Photo taken 11/14/10

Photos taken 11/13/10

Photos taken 8/1/10

Photos taken 8/1/10

Photo taken 4/29/12

Photo taken 9/27/09

Taken 4/29/12

Taken 4/29/12

Taken 4/29/12

Found the bridge site on 4/28/12. It's a steel tube, encased in concrete.

I believe that just because the railroad has been abandoned, the classification of the bridge class as a railroad bridge would not be changed. It's still a railroad bridge because that was what it was built as.

4/04/2012 Still there!A little more twisted.Someone help this bridge!

I cannot believe that these pictures are 40 years old. I started my fascination of bridges at four years old. Yes, that tyke is me.

I restarted a tradtion I begun in the 90's, walking Big Mac. What a greater time for pictures.

Hensel rd bridge

Right around the corner on Hensel rd

3/17/2012

Here a couple of pictures I took on March 8, 2012. Everything still seems in place.

Benson st I was a youngster when we crossed the bridge,it was raining slightly,my dad said "You better look good it won't be here much longer".It did survive,until the 70's.

Another old picture of Benson bridge

Former road commission warns,if you cross the barrier the ashpalt is thin and you could fall thru.

In the early 90's before the barrier I walked it.It was scary then.Plaques were still there then.Ornamentation is going quick,The bridge sits out of the ways.Probably why it is still there.The only unrestored historical truss in Midland county.

Confirmed gone since 2007

Gone,Gone,Gone,On Facebook one of the former Midland road commision said,the only unrestored historical bridge is Smiths Crossing.

A close up of ashpalt deck

Closed for at least 2 yrs.

I confess I was the one who posted

Smith's Crossing Bailey bridge front view

Smith's Crossing,Bailey bridge

Good luck with donations Nathan. In all my years I have only seen one donation come from this site, not that I am complaining. That is why we started Workin' Bridges, so we didn't have to ask for donations. This is also a bridge that I have been trying to find another home for with BACH Steel. Oh it gets so complicated with bridges.

The Tridge a walking bridge that crosses the Tittabawassee and Chippewa river.Redwood arch.Between Currie and where Benson was located.Further upstream is Smiths Crossing Bridge,or as it is in Bridgehunter Tittabawassee River bridge

People used to swim at Currie I think 1920.River was wider,had beaches,filled in to make roadway.

Benson Street bridge Flood 1912?

Benson Street bridge Joliet Iron works 1908 downriver from Currie.Removed 1979.

A whipple truss Built 1908 across the Tittabawassee river

The road commission fully supports having this bridge removed by preservationists. I would have had this bridge out except I need about $4000 to do it. Donations accepted.

This little bridge has been a warrior despite it distorted appearance. I really wish the county highway commission would work to have this span lifted off it's crumbling abutments and set to the side until a new home can be found.

If it falls in the drink the damage might not be repairable.

March 30 2011

Feb picture 2012

Currie Parkway "Upper bridge"

This shows the arch that really is the bridge now.

More pictures

Currie park way 2011

flood of 1979

Visited this on December 24, 2011. The bridge is gone.

Yeah, it should say replaced. I fixed it.

Uhhhh the Korte bridge definitely still exists...

I think it would be appropriate for you to post a picture or two of him here if you wish. Seeing the people who created these works adds to their context.

My grandfather was a mason who helped build this bridge.

Nice find!

Perhaps built by Pere Marquette Railway or a predecessor. Later part of C&O system.

Nice add! I wish I could get up to the Keweenaw to document a few of the bridges there.

I have been on a similar bridge such as this one. I suppose you could say it was the urban explorer in me or the intrepid historian trying to capture something the rest of us forgot. The first time, scary yet somehow exhilarating. The second ... no fear at all. You could be diagnosed with cancer and die within a month. Crap like that happens all the time. You realize life is too short to be getting one's knickers in a knot or wringing your hands endlessly over this, that, or the other. I agree with Gene.

Hey... Bring back Evil Kenevil or the Dukes of Hazzard as I'm sure they would love this one!

Dangerous for what? It is closed, and probably blocked off, so you are at "your own risk" if you attempt to get on it. Are you afraid parts will fall off in the water, perhaps killing some fish? The world is full of dangers, part of life is learning how to stay safe.

Let this bridge, and the extant truss next to it serve as examples. The truss, built in the late 1800s, is intact and still doing it's intended job very well. This bridge however, was built in the early 1900s and, well just LOOK at it.

I was on Youtube and I found this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWEZL5KuYGY

The bridge is at the end of the video.

Bridge closed for at least 2 yrs.Just a small barrier to stop a car from crossing.Can still walk on it.

This bridge is currently owned by Canadian National Railway (Wisconsin Central is merely a subsidiary unit of the company), who has applied to the Army Corp of Engineers for demolition of this, one of Michigan's longest truss bridges and one of our only lattice truss bridges. The bridge was originally built as a five span bridge and converted to a ten span bridge. It was originally built by Chicago and Northwestern Railway who liked lattice truss bridges. I have a few poor copies of original plan sheets for the bridge but haven't posted them online yet. I did post some photos for the bridge recently on HistoricBridges.org here: http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=michigan/lattice/

It's actually a Quadruple Warren (Warren Quadrangular)truss that is found on a number of railroad spans.

Very nice bridge!

Bridge trusses look like a Whipple. Am I correct?