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Ft. Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge

Pulaski County, Missouri
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Photos 

Photo taken by Larry Dooley in March 2012

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Map 

Description 

Military bridge closed to all traffic but sturdy and appears structurally sound.

See figure 2-8 in TM 5-600/AFJPAM 32-1088

This bridge matches the illustration of the T 6 aluminum bridge.

According to an army.mil article, the bridge weighed 90,000 pounds and removing and dismantling it after the flood destroyed it was "good training"

Facts 

Overview
T6 aluminum portable bridge over Big Piney River on Ft. Leonard Wood Road
Location
Fort Leonard Wood, Pulaski County, Missouri
Status
Destroyed by flooding
History
Destroyed by flooding December 2015
Design
T6 aluminum portable bridge
Dimensions
Total length: 890.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+37.73296, -92.05379   (decimal degrees)
37°43'59" N, 92°03'14" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/583375/4176607 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Big Piney
Inventory number
BH 51660 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Beam (11,607)
Destroyed by flood (326)
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (6)
Lost (18,414)
Lost 2015 (192)
Lost during 2010s (1,902)
Missouri (5,903)
 Other pony truss (13)
Owned by federal government (979)
Owned by military (60)
Pony truss (14,994)
Pulaski County, Missouri (22)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,499)
Truss (29,290)

Update Log 

  • July 20, 2017: Updated by Fmiser: Added length, and added to description
  • January 14, 2016: Updated by Luke: Updated status per forum comment & merged imagery.
  • May 7, 2014: Updated by Clark Vance: Identified as aluminum T 6 military bridge.
  • December 11, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Updated type
  • March 9, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Gave it an actual name other than simply "unknown'
  • March 9, 2012: Added by Larry Dooley

Sources 

  • Larry Dooley
  • Luke
  • Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
  • Army TM 5-600 - Source of identification
  • Fmiser - fmiser [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Ft. Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted July 14, 2017, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

Army.mil story about the removal:

https://www.army.mil/article/164874

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted January 14, 2016, by Shawn Bleiler (shawn [dot] bleiler [at] gmail [dot] com)

This bridge was overturned in the flooding in late December of 2015.

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted January 6, 2014, by Matt Lohry

For what it's worth, it appears to me to be a portable version of the regular Warren truss--each panel is individual, but they are all pinned together at the top and the bottom, rendering them essentially "rigid" and allowing all of the individual top chords to act as one when assembled, and the same with the individual bottom chords. Each panel has end posts, but when connected in succession, they would likely act the same as the verticals in a Warren truss with verticals. I may be way out in left field with this, but just my observation.

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted January 6, 2014, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

I've gotten information from the engineering historian at Leonard Wood. It's not a Bailey and no one seems to recall what it is. It was suggested that it was an experimental type but I haven't found any information yet to confirm the information.

If nothing else turns up I'll post what I have when I get time.

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted January 6, 2014, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This bridge does not follow the Army Manual for Bailey trusses. Panel design is completely different. It is quite interesting and very unusual, but I would not call it a Bailey, at least using even a slightly strict definition.

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted December 11, 2012, by Fmiser (fmiser [at] gmail [dot] com)

Maybe there is more than one type of Bailey. But this is not a typical Bailey because the diagonals don't form a "diamond". Each panel's diagonals usually form a square with positioned with the point down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_bridge#Bailey_bridge

But I have never installed one, so if DBG is sure it's really a Bailey, I'll just have to change my definition!

Ft Leonard Wood Big Piney River Bridge
Posted December 11, 2012, by DBG (dglsbgbsn [at] yahoo [dot] com)

This is a Bailey bridge or panel bridge. I trained at Ft. Leonard Wood in 1969 as a combat engineer, MOS 12B. We assembled and tore down these portable, prefabricated steel bridges in training (this may even be the same bridge). They were (are?) carried to the point of assembly and assembled by an Engineer bridge company.

I'm surprised to see one still standing.

We also did night amphibious assaults across the Big Piney.

You can buy one for $1000/ton at:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/517415854/Bailey_Bridge_Po...

DBG