Schilling Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Mouse River on 181st Street SE, 2 mi. east of Sawyer in Sawyer Township
- Location
- Ward County, North Dakota, and McHenry County, North Dakota
- Status
- Destroyed by collision
- History
- Built 1940
- Builder
- - Fargo Bridge & Iron Co. of Fargo, North Dakota
- Design
- Pin-connected, 6-panel Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 128.0 ft.
Total length: 132.9 ft.
Deck width: 17.7 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.6 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +48.08934, -101.01488 (decimal degrees)
48°05'22" N, 101°00'54" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 14/349961/5328193 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Sawyer
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 25
- Inventory numbers
- ND 51-156-490 (North Dakota bridge number)
BH 23727 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of May 2017)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 55.3 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- October 12, 2020: New photo from Art Suckewer
- October 11, 2020: Updated by Nathan Holth: Collapsed by farmer.
- November 17, 2009: Updated by J Lance: Added coordinates
- July 23, 2009: Updated by J Lance: Added and corrected data on bridge
- July 13, 2009: Updated by J Lance: Added alternate name
Sources
- J Lance - bugo [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
Comments
Some idiot farmer decided a great thing to do would be to full a massive piece of farm equipment over this pin-connected truss in an equally massive tractor. Now, thanks to his complete lack of brain cells North Dakota, with its very small surviving collection of historic bridges, has one less historic bridge. https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/velva-ar...
The river this bridge crosses is more commonly known as the Souris River (it sometimes is called the Mouse River in the U.S.) and is the river that is in the news for its unprecedented flooding. Unfortunately, that might well spell the end for a bridge like this.
By the way, the 1940 date is clearly incorrect, this seems to be a ca 1905 bridge. I wonder if this bridge was relocated in that year.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nd/ward/51156490/
Nathan,
The demolition occurred around 6pm Friday, October 9, 2020. I think it was a combination of weight and width. I'm guessing that the plow hit the endpost. "The Highway Patrol said 41-year-old Kris Walcker was pulling a large plow with a John Deere tractor."
https://knoxradio.com/news/local/nd-bridge-collapse
https://www.kxnet.com/news/local-news/bridge-over-mouse-rive...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bridge-collapses-near-velv...
I realize the reason we are doing away with truss bridges is because they aren't idiot-proof but I suspect that nature will simply make a bigger idiot.
Regards,
Art S.