Bridgehunter.com News

Wallace Bridge Repair Progressing - Slowly (June 27, 2009)

The June 24 edition of the Petit Jean Country Headlight (Perryville, Arkansas) reports that the historic Wallace Bridge, damaged when an overloaded truck broke through the deck last January, has been approved for repairs. Perry County Judge Baylor House reports that he has released the go-ahead for repairs to structural engineers. He further says that he had hoped for grant assistance from the Arkansas Historical Preservation Program but such aid is not forthcoming at this time. The bridge is located in Perry County, Arkansas and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Last January, the driver of a lumber truck that weighed 6 times the posted load limit attempted to cross the rare camelback through truss and promptly broke through the deck. See the original story here and read the lively discussion that followed.
Sam Sawyer visited the Wallace Bridge on February 7, after the
truck was removed, and took this dramatic photo of the
damage. You can see this photo and his other photos of the
damage in the original news story thread.

Missouri's Historic Bridge Inventory available online (June 3, 2009)

Imagine my surprise when I accidentally stumbled across this page on the MoDOT website with the scanned text of Missouri's long-rumored but rarely-seen Historic Bridge Inventory. Posted as a series of PDF files, it's cumbersome to browse, but includes quite a bit of research I haven't seen before. As with any state's historic bridge inventory, these documents quickly become outdated as bridges are replaced or destroyed. In addition, bridges that were previously ignored have gained historic significance as time passes. Indeed, even MoDOT describes the original 1991-96 inventory as being "in need of a profound update and overhaul." They have posted an updated spreadsheet from July 2008 showing a depressing number of bridges that have been replaced. Since this inventory was derived from highway department records, it omits many abandoned bridges as well as footbridges, railroad bridges, culverts, and private spans. Some of Missouri's most interesting bridges fall into these categories, including the Irondale Arch Bridge (1856, so far the oldest bridge I've identified), Benton Park Bridge (1866 brick arch), Victorian Footbridge (1885 oddball design), Frumet Bridge (long abandoned Camelback truss), and the Bois Brule Creek Bridge (which as one person recently commented, is in better shape than its replacement). Despite the limitations of Missouri's inventory, it's still a fantastic source of information. I'm in the process of incorporating all of the new data as time permits.

On this date in history... (May 27, 2009)

...in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened, one of the most recognizable structures in the world. On this date, the bridge was open to pedestrians only, allowing residents an opportunity to closely inspect the bridge. (It opened to traffic the next day, May 28.) The Golden Gate Bridge was a marvel of technology and achievement when it opened, after only 5 years of construction. Dreamers had proposed bridging San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Strait as far back as the 1870s when the completed transcontinental railroad brought passengers to Oakland, but not to San Francisco, and the city found itself on the wrong side of the bay. The challenges of spanning the Golden Gate Strait were many. The Golden Gate is a narrow strait that is the mouth of San Francisco Bay. It is over 350 feet deep and 390 billion gallons of salt water flow through the strait, four times every day, as the tides flow in and out of San Francisco Bay. In addition, high winds swirl through the strait on a nearly continuous basis. All talk was just that, talk, until 1916 when an engineer proposed a 3,000 foot span, estimated to cost $100 million to build. --- Serious discussions followed, including finding a designer who could build it for a lot less money. Joseph Strauss, an engineer from Chicago, suggested he could build a 4,000 foot structure for $17 million and the project was on. The final plans were completed by Clifford Paine but were influenced by Irving Morrow, an architect who called for the bridge to be painted International Orange, a warm color in contrast to the bridges stark surroundings. Between the time the design sequence was completed and the first dirt was moved, the bridge faced numerous popular and legal challenges, not the least of which was from the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated the ferries between San Francisco and Sausalito. By the time all the hurdles were jumped, the Great Depression had begun and funding was at risk. The Bank of America underwrote the project in order to stimulate the local economy. The final structure is 6,450 feet in length and uses 80,000 miles of wire to support the deck. The towers rise a majestic 746 feet above the water and are instantly recognized in any photograph of the bridge. The project cost about $35 million, a princely sum in the 1930s. In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers named it to their list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

The bad news continues (May 6, 2009)

Update May 6: The implosion of the Davis Avenue Bridge happened today. Previous update from April 22: This might be a first: Pittsburgh officials have evacuated the residents of four houses near the Davis Avenue Bridge, fearing that the bridge could collapse at any time. The city intends to demolish the bridge as soon as possible. Of course, it's absolutely appalling that the bridge has been allowed to deteriorate to this point. City leaders have been making excuses ever since the bridge was closed to traffic in 2001. The National Bridge Inventory indicates that the bridge's superstructure was rated as 1 out of 9 ("imminent failure") since at least 2005. In other bad news, the main span of the Pomeroy-Mason Bridge between Ohio and West Virginia was imploded yesterday. This was another in a long line of cantilever trusses that have been replaced by cookie-cutter cable-stayed bridges.

A glimmer of hope in Pennsylvania? (April 6, 2009)

I've never understood Pennsylvania's love-affair with Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridges (UCEBs). They'll demolish a historic bridge on a road with very little traffic while spending megabucks to build a fancy replacement bridge that is overkill. Is Pennsylvania starting to get a clue? I wouldn't hold my breath, but the situation isn't completely hopeless. A recent Parade Magazine article, How We Can Save Our Roads, quotes Allen D. Biehler, the Pennsylvania state transportation secretary:

Biehler department now is rethinking its practice of replacing worn-out country bridges with large concrete decks -- which tend to be about 20 feet wider than the bridges. "You don't need an extra 18 or 20 feet," says Biehler. "What are you really getting for that additional spending? Multiplied by hundreds of bridges, that adds up to a lot of money.

Amen to that. There's no reason to build massive UCEBs on minor backroads. If Pennsylvania is willing to consider building smaller bridges, then perhaps they'll start to question the whole idea of building replacement bridges in the first place. In many cases historic bridges can be rehabilitated to provide more than adequate service for light traffic. Not every bridge needs to be built with piers tall enough to withstand a 5,000-year flood and decks wide enough to carry the Space Shuttle.

Who owns this bridge? (March 3, 2009)

What happens when nobody can agree who owns a bridge? That's the situation at Higbee, Missouri, following the collapse of a wooden bridge across the KCS Railroad. A passing train carrying metal pipes reportedly caused the bridge to collapse after the load shifted. Nobody wants to take responsibility for reconstructing the bridge, so the wreckage has remained for the last year: The railroad insists that the bridge is owned by the county since it carries Randolph County Road 2561, a convenient shortcut around Higbee. Somehow the railroad officials seem to think that the county is responsible for repairing damage that the railroad caused. Meanwhile, the county argues that the railroad owns the bridge and that the railroad is fully responsible for fixing it. --- Data from the National Bridge Inventory suggests that the county owns the bridge, but this doesn't mean much: a bridge inspector may have just assumed it was a county bridge since it carries a county road. It's likely that the bridge was originally built by the railroad. When automobiles first became popular, the number of collisions and deaths at grade crossings skyrocketed, leading to intense public pressure for the railroads to replace these crossings with grade separations. The railroads did build some overpasses, but they cut corners, opting for low-budget wooden trestle-type bridges instead of more substantial bridges. Despite their rickety nature, many of these overpasses are still standing, scattered throughout the country. The big question is whether ownership passed to the county at some point during history, or whether the KCS Railroad inherited it from some predecessor rail company. Little is known about the bridge's history -- the NBI lists a construction date of 1940, which probably doesn't even qualify as an educated guess. So who knows? Barricades block the bridge, although it's a miracle somebody didn't drive off the edge immediately after the collapse. From the foot of the bridge, there's no indication that part of the bridge is missing: Clearly, the situation at Higbee is intolerable and somebody will have to pay to clean up the wreckage and reconstruct the bridge. Hopefully this historic wooden overpass can be restored to its original state, but, considering the extent of the damage, it may not be possible to salvage it.

Historic Wallace Bridge to be Repaired (February 27, 2009)

The February 18, 2009 edition of the Petit Jean Country Headlight reported that plans to restore the Wallace Bridge are underway. The paper says that Perry County Judge Baylor House issued an update on pending repairs to the historic structure, after a delivery truck broke through the deck last month. Judge House said that preservation specialists and two engineers (one of them is a structural engineer) are reviewing renderings and drawings of the bridge in preparation of creating a plan for the repair. Judge House indicated that repairs could be completed as early as July. See Truck Falls Through Wallace Bridge for the original Bridge Hunter story and discussion.

The Bridges of Bollinger County, Missouri (February 17, 2009)

I gave a presentation on Sunday, Feb. 8, to the Bollinger County Historical Society about the truss bridges in the county. Here's a summary of the presentation.

Update Feb. 17: I'm giving another presentation this Monday, Feb. 23, at 6 PM to the Stoddard County Historical Society at the Stars & Stripes Museum in Bloomfield, Missouri.

Tuscumbia Bridge doomed (February 17, 2009)

The Tuscumbia Bridge in Miller County, Missouri, has the dubious honor of being the first construction project funded by the Stimulus Bill signed by President Obama. The old bridge, a rare cantilevered through truss, will be replaced by some hideous UCEB (Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge). To add insult to injury, the project will likely obliterate the remaining artifacts of the Tuscumbia Swinging Bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges ever built in Missouri.

Truck Falls Through Wallace Bridge (February 3, 2009)

A delivery truck owned by Haynes Home Center, Morrilton, made a wrong turn while making a delivery in Perry County early Thursday morning. The driver drove the delivery truck onto and into the historic Wallace Bridge that spans the Fourche LaFave River, five miles below the Nimrod Dam. The truck was loaded with lumber for a job site on the Wallace Bridge Road, west of Aplin. The direct route to the job site, approximately two miles south of Highway 60, would have taken the driver across the Wallace Bridge. To avoid the bridge, directions were given routing the trucks south on Highway 155 then to a county road on the south side of the river. Approaching the job site, which was directly in front of the truck, the driver made a right turn which took him onto the bridge.

Photo taken by Tonya English of the Petit Jean Country Headlight

--- Load limit on the bridge built in 1908 was a maximum of 3 tons. The weight of the truck, lumber and lift caused the truck to break through the bridge floor of white oak timbers. The rig's combined weight of approximately 40,000 was six times the maximum limit. The driver escaped the truck unharmed and was later taken into custody by Perry County Sheriff Scott Montgomery and charged with overweight vehicle and failure to obey official devices (sign). He is being held in Perry County Detention Center in lieu of $5,000 cash bond. It became apparent Thursday afternoon that no quick solution was available. A myriad of issues made the retrieval of the truck problematic. The first order of business was to secure the bridge from any foot or vehicle traffic. Two large piles of rock were piled on each end of the bridge by the Perry County Road Department. Early Friday morning structural engineer, Ed Riddick of Riddick Engineering, Little Rock, met with newly elected Perry County Judge Baylor House, to formulate a plan. Riddick represented EMC Insurance Co. of Kansas City, Mo., insurer of the Haynes Home Center truck. Judge House explained to Riddick that a plan of action must include preserving the structural integrity of the bridge. A crane company in Benton, was contacted by Riddick. Jason Gault and Charlie Herring were sent to survey the situation and determine equipment needs. The two technicians from Dick Mooney Crane Rental determined a 120,000-pound, 114- foot crane would be necessary. Early Saturday morning, the crane operator crew, led by Shane Gage, operations manager, began preparations for the extraction. [The crew placed] cable winches, which extended from the top of the bridge to both sides of the truck, to stabilize the truck. Herring explained that the cable winches were for the safety of the crew. He said that the winches would not hold the truck, but would give crew members attaching cables an additional three seconds to escape should the bridge collapse further. Gault explained that the crane�s 104 feet of boom was capable of sustaining over 60,000 pounds. Judge House, cognizant of the potential for an accident, arranged to have water rescue support. Standing by in a boat, the Faulkner County Fire and Rescue divers waited should the need arise. Climbing under, over and around, crane crew members attached steel cables to the truck. Once the cables were secure, the crane lifted the truck to relieve pressure on the bridge. Todd Haynes, owner of the truck, secured in a safety harness, handed lumber from the truck to an assembly line of workers. Hand unloading the truck took approximately one and one half hours. When the lumber was removed, the crane effortlessly lifted the truck and lift from the bridge. The Wallace Bridge became one of eight Arkansas properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the country�s official list of historically significant properties. The honor was announced by Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Director Frances McSwain on Thursday Aug. 14, 2008. In 1908, the Virginia Bridge and Iron Co. was selected to build bridges over the Fourche LaFave River at Fourche, Houston, Aplin and Nimrod. It seems likely that the primary impetus for constructing the Wallace Bridge was to provide access to the woodlands south of the Fourche River. The Fourche River Lumber Co. used the river as a means of floating logs to the mill at Bigelow. The bridge provided access to and from their logging areas to the river and to the railroad on the north side of the river. The Southwestern Bridge Co. of Joplin, Mo., completed the work on the Wallace Bridge in 1908 at a cost of approximately $10,000. The Wallace Bridge is a pinconnected, 10-panel Camelback Pratt through truss with a wooden deck. The length of the largest span of the bridge is 180.1 feet, with a total length of 212.9 ft. The bridge was exemplary as the last remaining example of this type of bridge in Perry County and one of only three remaining in the state of Arkansas. The Wallace Bridge sustained considerable damage. The AHPP, Department of Arkansas Heritage, the agency responsible for identifying evaluating, registering, and preserving the state�s cultural resources will determine criterion in the restoration of the damaged bridge. The original article appeared in the January 28 2009 issue of the Petit Jean Country Headlight and can be found on the paper's website. The original appeared on Page 1 and is continued on Page 8. The condensed version is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Petit Jean Country Headlight.

More NBI data available (January 23, 2009)

The Federal Highway Administration has posted older data from National Bridge Inventory going back to 1992. By comparing this version with the current 2008 edition, it's possible to make a list of historic bridges that have been replaced with UCEBs since 1992. I'll be incorporating these new findings into the website over time. In the meantime, you can download this huge ZIP file containing the '92 data in a pre-processed CSV format suitable for importing into Excel or your favorite spreadsheet program.

Fort Steuben Bridge Appears Doomed (January 17, 2009)

Leanna Elder has reported that the Fort Steuben Bridge has been closed and appears to be doomed. In fact, the 1928 bridge has apparently reached the end of its useful life and plans are now in place for its demise. The Ohio DOT has an article about the removal of the Fort Steuben Bridge on its website. You can see more about the bridge and its prospects on the Fort Steuben Bridge here at Bridge Hunter.

2009: The Year in Preview (January 7, 2009)

Good riddance to 2008. Many historic bridges were lost last year, thanks to fires (Dewey Suspension Bridge), tornadoes (Moscow Covered Bridge), ice jams (Parshallburg Bridge), and numerous floods (Charles City Suspension Bridge, Sutliff Bridge, Columbia Bridge, and others throughout the Midwest). As bad as these disasters were, the real disasters were the deliberate destruction of many other bridges, including the one-of-a-kind Liberty Memorial Bridge in North Dakota, the massive Glasgow Bridge in Missouri, and the double-decker Foxburg Bridge in Pennsylvania (just to name a few). Pennsylvania appears to be the leader in replacing historic bridges with Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridges (UCEBs), but no place was immune. --- The new year will likely bring more of the same bad news. Several major bridges are likely to be demolished this year, including the Fort Steuben Bridge, Pomeroy Mason Bridge, and the Amelia Earhart Bridge. Moreover, many other smaller bridges are likely to be lost in the near future. There is some hope. Public opinion does seems to be making a slow, but steady, shift toward favoring the preservation of historic bridges. I've noticed a change in the newspaper coverage of bridge replacement projects. In the past, stories were usually focused on how great the new UCEB will be, with some obligatory back-slapping quotes from local leaders about "progress" and blah blah blah. We still see some of that today, but many stories now focus on the history of the old bridge and the desire by the community to save it if possible. It's becoming harder for civic leaders to ignore the success that some cities have had rehabilitating their landmark bridges as tourist attractions. Just look at St. Louis (Old Chain of Rocks, McKinley, and Eads bridges), Cincinnati (Purple People Bridge), Chattanooga (Walnut and Market Street bridges), Nashville (Shelby Street Bridge), Little Rock (Junction Bridge), and more. With engineering know-how, a good coat of paint, and creative marketing, historic bridges that were once considered rusting albatrosses have morphed into centerpieces of urban renewal. One big wild card for 2009 is the incoming Obama Administration and the response to the economic mess. On the one hand, I would generally expect that a Democrat in the White House would be more favorable to historic preservation than a Republican. However, the President-elect's call for stimulating the economy by spending megabucks on new road and bridge construction doesn't sit well, since these fast-tracked projects will likely produce a bunch of UCEBs. I suspect that we'll see a peculiar situation where the Federal government will spend money left and right, while state and local governments, feeling the pressure from shriveling tax revenue, will become extremely tight with their own money. This could have two major impacts on historic preservation: 1. Like it or not, many local governments will have to forgo new construction while trying to maintain what they already have. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it will be painful for them to make the transition away from the current "replace-first-ask-questions-later" mentality. Sure, the Feds will try to throw money at infrastructure projects, but it won't be enough to pick up the slack. 2. To combat rising unemployment, Obama will try to bring back Roosevelt-era "make-work" projects. The original New Deal was quite wasteful, but it did provide a kickstart for the field of historic preservation, including the founding of the Historic American Buildings Survey. A "New Deal 2.0" could potentially have a similar payoff. It's hard to say what 2009 will bring exactly, but there is some reason to be optimistic, despite the certain knowledge that many bridges will soon be lost.

On this date in history... (January 5, 2009)

...in 1933, work began on construction of a monumental project, the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco had developed into a center of trade, commerce and society in the 19th Century but when the transcontinental railroad was completed, San Francisco found itself on the wrong side of San Francisco Bay. At that time, talk began about bridging the bay to the east, to Oakland and to the north, over the Golden Gate, to Marin County. The Golden Gate is a narrow strait that is the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Construction of a bridge was complicated by the strait itself, not only because it is over 350 feet deep, but 390 billion gallons of salt water flow through the strait, four times every day, as the tides flow in and out of San Francisco Bay. In addition, high winds swirl through the strait on a nearly continuous basis. All discussion about bridging the strait was just talk until 1916 when an engineer proposed a 3,000 foot span, it was estimated to cost $100 million to build. Serious disccussions followed, including finding a designer who could build it for a lot less money. Joseph Strauss, an engineer from Chicago, suggested he could build a 4,000 foot structure for $17 million and the project was on. Between the time the design sequence began and the first dirt was moved, the bridge faced numerous popular and legal challenges, not the least of which was from the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated the ferries between San Francisco and Sausalito. By the time all the hurdles were jumped, the Great Depression has begun and funding was at risk. The Bank of America underwrote the project in order to stimulate the local economy. In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps improved Muir Woods in anticipation of visitors arriving from the bridge. (Attendence in the park tripled after the bridge opened.) The Golden Gate Bridge opened on May 27, 1937, and in 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers named it to their list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Author's Note: This thumbnail sketch is not intended to be a definitive history of the project but simply a reminder of the monumental effort that went into building important pieces of our historical infrastructure. Far more definitive histories of this bridge are widely available.

Parshallburg Bridge wiped out (December 29, 2008)

This is depressing: the Parshallburg/Ditch Road Bridge in Michigan, an extremely rare Thacher truss, was pushed into the river by flooding and ice. What's even more depressing is the local reaction:

"All our grants and funding are now in the river. Well, those grants are our tax money. "Instead of moving the bridge here, they should have just destroyed it."

At least this other report is more positive, with talk of restoring the bridge.

On this date in history... (December 15, 2008)

On December 15, 1967, at approximately 4:50 PM, the Silver Bridge that crossed the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virgina and Kanauga, Ohio, collapsed during rush hour. 46 people perished in the collapse. The 1928 bridge, which took its name from its aluminum paint, used an eyebar chain design that was new at the time of its construction. After the collapse, another eyebar chain design Ohio River crossing upriver was immediately closed for inspection. Eyebar #330, closer to the Ohio side of the bridge, had developed a tiny stress crack, perhaps in manufacture. When the crack reached 0.1" in depth, it went critical and failed soon after. Because all components of the bridge were balanced together, the failure of one component caused all the others to fail. Witnesses reported that the bridge collapse took about one minute. (The stress crack failure was discovered in the failure analysis. At the time, an inspection technique that would have located the crack was not available, short of dismantling the bridge.) The mysteries of "The Mothman Prophesies" add to the mystique of the area, and to the bridge collapse. At the time of its construction, the typical automobile was light and small, a typical Model T weighed 1,500 pounds but by 1967, family cars were twice the size and two to two and a half times the weight. Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams, unheard of in 1928, were common in 1967. The bridge was severely overloaded on a daily basis. As a result of the Silver Bridge disaster, the NBIS, National Bridge Inspection Standard, was created. It mandates that all bridges in the United States, longer than 20 feet, must be inspected every two years. A contemporary report on the collapse can be found on the Time Magazine Website as can numerous other reports on the Internet. A duke618 video about the bridge and the collapse was placed on YouTube. Be advised, there are some rather graphic images of the debris but this is a video worth watching. During your busy day, take a moment to remember the 46 souls who plunged to their deaths when the "Gateway to the South" collapsed, 41 years ago today.

Site news (December 10, 2008)

By popular demand, I've posted the entire National Bridge Inventory in tab-delimited format suitable for importing into your favorite spreadsheet program. It's massive (30 MB download, almost 300 MB uncompressed), but is much more convenient than the crazy file format available from the Federal government. Also, we reached a new milestone yesterday: the 30,000th photo was uploaded to the site. It was a photo by Gene McCluney of the Little Deep Fork Creek Bridge in Creek County, Oklahoma.

More bad news (December 9, 2008)

Burlington, Iowa, is looking to replace the Cascade Bridge, a rare Baltimore deck truss built in 1896. This would be quite a significant loss.
The situation doesn't look good for New Franklin, Missouri, where city officials voted to support the demolition of the viaduct on Highway 5. As I've argued earlier, this expensive project will leave the town with nothing to show for it except for a less safe grade crossing with the Katy Trail.
The South Street Bridge in Philadelphia, a 1923 deck-girder bridge over the Schuylkill River, has been closed to traffic this week in preparation for demolition and replacement.

December bad news roundup (December 3, 2008)

Cole County, Missouri, once had a nice collection of through truss bridges. Those days are rapidly coming to a close with the demolition this week of the Walnut Acres Road Bridge, a 1913 pin-connected Parker.
The Harrods Creek Bridge near Louisville, Kentucky, has been closed to traffic because inspectors deemed the railing (concrete balustrades) to be unsafe. I wonder what would happen if these inspectors were to visit some of the bridges in Missouri and Arkansas that don't have guardrails at all?
Arsonists have struck yet another covered bridge: the Gudgeonville Covered Bridge in Erie County, Pennsylvania.

The saga of the Vida Shaw Bridge (December 2, 2008)

Bridge issue back on the starting line is the headline from last month about the Vida Shaw Bridge in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. This through truss swing bridge is at the center of a bizarre historic preservation battle. The one-lane bridge had been slated for removal and replacement but those plans were dropped at the last minute. According to the article,

As part of the bridge replacement process, the state was required to determine if the bridge had historical value before taking bids on the project. The state decided that the bridge had no historic value, but was later "trumped" by the Keeper of the National Register for Historic Preservation, which deemed it eligible for historic preservation.

That's quite an unexpected victory. However, the bridge's future is still in doubt. It was listed as one of Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites in Louisiana for 2007-08. While there's significant local support for preserving the bridge, there's also significant local support for building a modern replacement.

Before any decision is made, officials should look at the example of the Lorrain Bridge in Calcasieu Parish, another swing bridge that was at the center of an historic preservation battle. That bridge was successfully rehabilitated to modern standards while providing a mild tourism boost. Sometimes win-win situations are actually possible.

Bad news from the Twin Cities (December 1, 2008)

You know the old line on TV about the police detective who is only days away from retirement when he gets shot? That's a lot like the situation at the Rock Island Bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Paul, Minnesota.

The National Park Service had given tours of the bridge one day in October as part of an effort to preserve a portion of it. The event was a success, with John Weeks writing, "An unexpectedly large number of people turned out for the tours, giving the Park Service hope that there is a large amount of interest in saving at least part of this old bridge."

The future was starting to look bright. However, just a few weeks later on November 21, a 200-foot section of the east approach collapsed. County officials now want to move quickly to demolish the entire bridge, so it seems likely that little if any of the bridge will be saved.

The situation isn't completely hopeless; there is precedent for saving bridges like this. St. Louis rehabilitated two Mississippi River bridges that were also in terrible condition: the Eads Bridge and the McKinley Bridge. Like the Rock Island span, these two former toll bridges had been allowed by their previous owners to fall into absolute shambles, especially their east approaches. Drivers avoided the rough pavement and the approach spans that looked like they could collapse under the slightest breeze.

The situation is much different today. After undergoing extensive renovations, both bridges now carry highway and pedestrian traffic (plus light rail on the Eads Bridge). It's hard to imagine St. Louis without these bridges. Could St. Paul deliver a similar historic preservation coup? I'm not holding my breath, but it's not completely out of the question.

We've reached a milestone (November 22, 2008)

I'm pleased to annouce that bridgehunter.com now has photos of five thousand bridges. The 5,000th bridge, submitted today by Eddie Douthitt, is the Underwood Bridge in Whitfield County, Georgia. Thanks again to everybody who has contributed photos and information over the last few years.

The Bridge Formerly Known As The Triborough (November 10, 2008)

New York City has sparked controversy by officially renaming the Triborough Bridge as the "Robert F. Kennedy Bridge." Despite a push to eliminate the old name from all road signs (at great expense), it seems likely that New Yorkers will continue to use the historic name. And why not? Triborough, like all good bridge names, neatly summarizes the purpose of the structure. Let's hope this doesn't become a trend. I'm surprised that New York hasn't already tried to sell naming rights to its landmarks bridges. Can you imagine the "Brooklyn Bridge Presented By AT&T" or the "Bank of America Queensboro Bridge With Additional Funding Provided By General Motors"? In a perfect world, bridges and other public works projects would be named for the people who actually make them possible: the taxpayers. But no politician would dare call something the "Taxpayers Memorial Bridge" or the "Bridge Funded By Drivers Like You Paying Exorbitant Tolls." I frequently field questions from people asking -- or arguing -- about the names listed for bridges on this website. As a general rule, the most commonly used name is preferred, regardless of whether that name is "official" or not. Since this website is about history, I try to stick with names that best reflect a bridge's history. Unless "Robert F. Kennedy Bridge" becomes a standard by most New Yorkers, it will remain the Triborough here.

The case for rails-to-trails (November 5, 2008)

Salem, Oregon, is on the verge of joining other cities with successful projects to convert railroad bridges for pedestrian/bicycle use. This excellent newspaper article describes the project and compares it to other ventures across the country.

Here is a poignant excerpt from the story:

Ethan Seltzer, the director of Portland State University's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, said urban trails have been popular across the nation. He was unaware of any that have failed to catch on, although neighbors sometimes worry about trails bringing undesirables into their area.
"Contrary to the notion that these things create nuisances in the neighborhood, the experience has proven that they are essentially icons of neighborhood pride," Seltzer said. The increased activity and public scrutiny generated by trails tends to discourage problems, such as crime and homeless camps, he said.

Iowa flood updates (November 5, 2008)

We have good news and bad news about the recovery efforts from the Iowa flooding in June.

Bad news: Charles City wants to build a replacement for their destroyed suspension footbridge, but it probably won't look anything like the historic bridge. The culprit is red tape. Since Federal dollars will be used to reconstruct the bridge, it must meet modern construction standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's not exactly clear why a suspension bridge wouldn't meet ADA requirements, but evidently the city might be stuck with some kind of cable-stayed design -- a landmark, yes, but not an historic landmark.

Good news: The remaining two spans of the damaged Sutliff Bridge passed its first inspection. Assuming that the bridge passes further inspections, the historic spans will be allowed to remain in place, and hopefully some kind of solution (including the possibility of an authentic reconstruction) will be found to fill the missing span.

New site features (October 27, 2008)

For the last several months, a group of beta-testers have been taking advantage of new features that make it possible to upload photos, add bridges, and edit information directly on the site, with no more waiting around for yours truly.

Hopefully, most of the bugs have been ironed out, and now it's high time that I start offering editor's accounts to everybody. If you'd like to have an account, you can sign-up here. Caution: It can be very addictive!

In other news, here are some of the other website improvements I've made in recent weeks:

Posted updated inspection data from the 2008 National Bridge Inventory
Implemented a new Advanced Search page
Added support for UTM coordinates in addition to latitude and longitude
Created categories for skewed, flared, and one-lane bridges
Added a new Essays section

More October news (October 23, 2008)

Reno, Nevada, will be replacing six downtown bridges, starting with the Virginia Street Bridge, as part of a flood control effort. Nevada doesn't have very many historic bridges -- or any bridges for that matter -- so this is very bad news indeed.
The Bend Road Bridge in Franklin County, Missouri, could be replaced in the coming years. This two-span Pennsylvania truss is one of the more interesting bridges in Missouri, but it has extremely unsafe approaches (so bad that even Model T's would have had difficulty using this bridge). Hopefully this bridge can be bypassed but not demolished.
Attention folks in Minnesota: officials will be giving guided tours of the abandoned "JAR Bridge" (or Rock Island Bridge) across the Mississippi River between Inner Grove Heights and St. Paul Park. This unique double-decker swing bridge, with the rail deck on top and the auto deck below, faces demolition next year, but efforts are underway to try to preserve some of the bridge.
Here's an interesting news item from England about plans to replace a minor bridge in Essex with a "concrete monstrosity." Notice the photo of the "Weak Bridge" road sign. Just imagine if Americans were as frank in our signs, such as "Dangerous Bridge Ahead That Hasn't Been Maintained In 20 Years Because We're Too Busy Building Bridges To Nowhere In Alaska".

Mid-October news (October 12, 2008)

Todd Baslee sends word that New Franklin, Missouri, will hold an open house at City Hall to discuss the fate of the New Franklin Viaduct. The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 16, from 4-7 PM.
Ken Franke reports that the Old Alton Road Bridge in Oregon County, Missouri, was removed over the summer and sold for scrap.
Demolition of the Liberty Memorial Bridge at Bismarck, North Dakota, is underway with one span removed and two to go. This was the world's only Turner-Warren truss, designed by engineer C.A.P. Turner.
One of the recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation fellowships is a bridge hunter, of sorts.

October updates (October 5, 2008)

The 2008 edition of the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) was released in mid-September. I'll be incorporating the new data shortly.
A public hearing was held last week to discuss the future of the Boonville Railroad Bridge in Missouri.
The replacement for the bridge at Yankton, South Dakota (named the "Yankton Discovery Bridge") will open October 11. The old Meridian Bridge, a double-decker truss with vertical lift span, will be rehabbed as a pedestrian/bicycle crossing.
Recent additions to the National Register of Historic Places include the Wallace Bridge in Arkansas, the East Delhi Road Bridge in Michigan, and Bagnell Dam in Missouri (the dam, carrying a state highway, is listed with its own bridge number in the NBI).

New Franklin Viaduct in jeopardy (September 24, 2008)

The Highway 5 overpass in New Franklin, Missouri, is unlike any other bridge in rural Missouri. A massive concrete Art Deco-ish viaduct, it rises above the town to cross a former railroad yard, now occupied solely by the Katy Trail. MoDOT wants to remove the bridge entirely, at an estimated cost of $1.3 million, and put the highway on the ground, presumably crossing the Katy Trail at an at-grade crossing. In short, taxpayers will end up paying megabucks to accomplish nothing, while removing an historic landmark and decreasing safety for users of the Katy Trail. What a deal! I would argue that MoDOT could better spend that $1.3 million as a down payment for a bypass of New Franklin, removing heavy traffic from the aging viaduct, while also eliminating the unsafe four-way stop and sharp turn on Highway 5 in the middle of town. Or, if a bypass isn't viable, then at least the highway could be routed along the ground next to the viaduct, while the bridge is preserved for foot traffic in conjunction with the Katy Trail. A petition is circulating in New Franklin to save the viaduct. After witnessing the ongoing fiasco with another nearby Katy Trail landmark, the Boonville Railroad Bridge, maybe residents can nip this foolhardy plan in the bud.

September updates (September 18, 2008)

Fundraising efforts are underway to help preserve the remaining two spans of the Sutliff Bridge in Iowa.
The new I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis has opened to traffic. Despite opening at 5 AM, it seems like half of the city showed up for the occasion.
The fate of Missouri's Boonville Railroad Bridge is still in doubt. What I can't figure out is why Union Pacific hasn't been able to find other bridge spans to use instead of Boonville's. Why not do something with the abandoned railroad bridges over the Kansas River in Kansas City?

The Bridges of Doniphan County, Kansas (September 18, 2008)

There has been some interesting forum discussions about the peculiar truss bridges in Doniphan County, Kansas. The Cottonwood Creek Bridge near Bendena looks like a standard Pratt through truss at first, but it has a really short middle panel that makes it one-of-a-kind. The Duncan Creek Bridge is a Parker through truss, but with only 4 panels and a very short span (86 feet) for its type. Finally, the Branch Missouri River Bridge resembles a Kingpost pony truss, but with subdivided panels closer to a Waddell "A" truss.

My guess is that these bridges were assembled from spare parts taken from other bridges. The strange designs were probably the result of improvising with available materials. A few more truss bridges are listed in the county, so perhaps more surprises are in store.

Fate of Michigan Street Bridge Still In Doubt (September 6, 2008)

Chairman of the Door County Board, Leo Zipperer, has asked Governor Jim Doyle to consider removing the historic Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay. He wrote a letter to the governor, suggesting that the state has higher priorities than renovating the 70-year-old bridge. In an interview with WBAY television news (the ABC affiliate in Green Bay) Zipperer said he doesn't want to see the bridge totally removed, just the troublesome bascule span. Sturgeon Bay Alderman Jim Michaud thinks it's ridiculous to tear down the bridge. In in the same report from WBAY Michaud said, "That's the busiest street and the busiest thoroughfare in Door County." While the new Oregon Street Bridge, due to open any day now, will relieve a great deal of traffic from the historical bridge, restoration will keep two extra traffic lanes open across the bay. "You can't spend it in a better place," Michaud said. "To replace it, we now know takes $33 million. To repair it is a $14 million project, so it's money well spent," Michaud said. My Opinion: No one has estimated what it would cost to remove the bridge. As Professor Kevin Patrick of Indiana University of Pennsylvania says, "Bridges are expensive to put up, expensive to maintain, and expensive to tear down." The cost of removing the bridge vs. the incremental cost of renovating the bridge should be considered. Leo Zipperer stated that the money could be better spent due to the current economy. The effects of the economy are short term, while removal of the bridge is permanent. After it's gone, it will be missed and if two extra traffic lanes across the bay are needed, as Jim Michaud said, it will cost $33 million to replace the bridge. That's in 2008 dollars, who knows what it would cost to build a new bridge 10 years from now? Keeping the truss spans but removing the bascule span is about as useful as making a pair of jean cut-offs by keeping the legs and throwing away the shorts. I agree with Michaud, the renovation is money well spent to keep the extra traffic lanes open but that is just the added benefit of preserving a living piece of history, an icon of Sturgeon Bay, Door County and the State of Wisconsin.

"Saving these treasures is not someone else's job!" (September 1, 2008)

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded a song in 1970, called Big Yellow Taxi which includes these lines in the chorus: Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone.
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.* Concerned citizens in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin decided that the time to save a historic bridge is before it's gone. They formed a group called Citizens for our Bridge, Incorporated, an IRS 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization to do just that - save the Michigan Street Bridge from destruction. They have worked tirelessly with the City of Sturgeon Bay, Door County and the State of Wisconsin to save the bridge as not only a historical icon of Sturgeon Bay but a vital link to the economy of downtown Sturgeon Bay. The group even holds an annual all-weekend fund raising event called the annual Steel Bridge Songfest. Shawn Fairchild wrote an excellent paper about the group, the bridge and the efforts to save the through truss and last overhead-truss, Scherzer-type, double-leaf, rolling-lift bascule in the State of Wisconsin. He presented the paper at the Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial Acheology, held in Duluth, Minnesota on June 3, 2000. You can read it right here on the Bridge Hunter Michigan Street Bridge page. In his paper, he quotes Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who said, "Not every community has an Independence Hall, but every single community in America has treasures that make it unique, that make it a special place. Saving these treasures is not someone else's job!" Mr. Fairchild's paper is an excellent guide for how you can go about saving a historical bridge in your area before you learn that "...they paved paradise and put up a parking lot." * - Copyright � Siquomb Publishing Company, 1970

Arkansas updates (August 30, 2008)

Robert Scoggin at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department sent a copy of his office's latest publication, Atlas of Historic Bridges in Arkansas, which includes information on all of the bridges in Arkansas determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This includes several bridges that I haven't seen before. I've posted some of the new photos and information.
The Black Nursery Road Bridge near Prairie Grove has been nominated for the National Register. This is a 1923 Luten arch. Meanwhile, John Cross has spotted another Luten arch near Prairie Grove, on County Road 20, that hasn't appeared on the radar yet because it is bypassed and abandoned.
The winners of the Great Arkansas Bridge Sweepstakes have been selected. Two pony trusses in Craighead County were made available for adaptive reuse, with the state picking up the cost of relocating them. After they are replaced in 2010, the bridges will go to a girl scout camp and a city park in Jonesboro.

August updates (August 23, 2008)

Ashtabula County, Ohio, is set to open what they call the longest covered bridge in the United States (at 613 feet long), leaving New Hampshire's Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge in second place. However, New Hampshire will still hold bragging rights to the longest historic covered bridge in America, while Ohio's bridge looks more like a UCEB with a tin roof.
Could it be? An historic bridge in Pennsylvania that is going to be saved? I'll believe it when I see it!
Missouri's plan to replace 802 bridges under one massive contract has stalled because of economic woes.
What happens when a bridge is closed for months and nobody knows who is responsible for maintaining it? Ray County, Missouri, has that problem.

Guest Editorial: The Misunderstanding of the Public Towards Bridges STILL Exists (August 22, 2008)

Being tied up with other matters over here in Germany, I have not been able to comment much on the situation regarding the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis one year after its collapse on 1 August, 2007, although I have been keeping up to date on the situation and even collecting articles for my personal archive. --- But I guess it was all for the best, for when I finally had a chance to consider adding my two cents to the matter, another pontist by the name of James Baughn, who runs the Historic Bridges of the US website and is a good colleague of mine, compiled an article on the sad state of the federal government in encouraging replacing instead of rehabilitating bridges. While I have to agree with him on the policies that exist and the campaign to spend more money on replacing bridges, he forgot to add one aspect, which has been influencing politicians into thinking the way they do- and which this article deals with- and that is the public behavior towards bridges in general. Already in Minnesota, the DOT has approved a plan to replace as many as 170 bridges over the next 10 years, including fast-tracking bridges in dire need of replacement; most notably the Hastings Bridge and the DeSoto (Hwy. 23) Bridge in St. Cloud. While this plan is an improvement to the policies that existed prior to the I-35W Bridge collapse last year, one should take a closer look at the fine print, which stated that MnDOT wants to get rid of certain types of bridges by then. Looking at the bridges affected and comparing it to the Federal Highway Administration's policies on dealing with structural deficient bridges, one can put two and two together and see that the bridges to be wiped off the road system are truss and cantilever bridges as numbers one and two on the priority list, followed by structures that are more than 50 years old in a distant third- concrete bridges, that is. While this new policy is understandable given the sorry state of the nation's infrastructure, because of the economic state we're in as of right now, the goal of eliminating truss and cantilever bridges before 2018, while spending money on new bridges made of concrete and have no aesthetical value whatsoever will simply not happen, even if the public outcry is still big one year after the collapse. While there are some bridge-phobics out there who are so afraid of crossing a bridge that they would either avoid them or (in one case) have their friends and spouses put them in the trunk of a car before crossing it, I feel that we are living in a society where the public is taking everything for granted. What I mean in this case is we are not educated properly on the safety of bridges, we expect too much from the politicians, and we believe in information from sources that can be considered questionable at best. This not only includes information from talk-show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh (whom I personally detest with a passion), but also from the federal, state, and local governments themselves, as they have allowed the structures to deteriorate purposely, while at the same time, allow certain sources with little or no expertise in civil engineering to dictate their policies. What is worse is that these are the same people who present the public with information which no person can ever vouch for. In simpler language, we are living in a society where we have lost the mental capacity to think logically and behave reasonably. We are being dependent on these sources for comfort, when we should take a few minutes and think for ourselves and how our actions influence others around us. There are two types of stupidity that we're dealing with when it comes to handling (historic) bridges: stupidity based on beliefs and stupidity based on ignorance. Stupidity based on beliefs implies that the public believes in certain factors presented by those whose concern is not for the safety of the public but for their own purposes. This includes the usage of scare tactics, which has been a useful weapon to many who would like to see some of their prized historic bridges be replaced with concrete slabs. This was the case with the 5th Avenue Bridge in Decorah, which was demolished in April 2005 and served as a wake-up call for many who wanted to preserve what is left of Winneshiek County's historic bridges. There, some of the arguments for demolishing the Parker through truss icon included the inability of a fire truck to cross the one lane 10 ton bridge or the fact that it was dangerous for even pedestrians to cross it if closed to traffic. Now this is to a bridge whose rehabilitation occurred 20 years earlier, which included a paint job, making the structure greener and more attractive. Stupidity based on ignorance means the negligence to obey certain limits before crossing the bridge. This includes crossing bridges with a load heavier than the posted weight limit and "dropping" them into the water, like it was the case with the Frenchman's Bluff Bridge in Missouri in 2005. Stupidity based on ignorance can also refer to the view of many that historic bridges- especially truss bridges- are considered worthless and should be removed. This was the case when many people in Stillwater, MN pressed for the removal of the Lift Bridge after a semi truck caused damage to the bridge's upper chord in July this year. Despite these pleas claiming the bridge is a piece of rusted metal that ruins the scenery of the St. Croix River, the bridge will be preserved for pedestrian and bicycler use, once the new bridge is open to traffic in 2013. Both of these factors have played a role in influencing the politicians and other agencies into behaving the way they do right now. But my question is: is it the fault of the government for its policies towards maintaining bridges and preserving those considered historic, or is it the fault of the public because of mere stupidity? And if it is the fault of the public because of stupidity, what are the causes and what can we do about it? In my opinion, both sides share the responsibility for the irrational thinking towards bridges. Augmenting it further, both sides are responsible for the lack of information that is being passed around about the safety of bridges (and especially bridge types), while at the same time, using questionable and biased information on bridge safety in order to profit from the fears they are creating. This includes using tactics to scare people into believing that certain bridges are unsafe for crossing, whether it is through scare tactics or purposely neglecting the bridges for the purpose of cutting cost, as we saw from the bridge disaster. It is time that we in general should really shut up and listen to those who have expertise in bridge design and preservation, as well as those who have knowledge in mathematics and economics and can think rationally. If we do that, we will see that their views on how to maintain bridges and the view of the media and those influenced by people who want a share of power and money are different, black on white. Speaking on behalf of the engineers, I would consider truss and cantilever bridges an option for bridge construction, as they are designed to hold the roadway together by a series of triangular skeletal beams. They can only fail if they are not maintained properly. This includes fixing gusset plates and other beams and painting the structure from time to time, commodities that were missing when the I-35W Bridge went down. On behalf of the highway department, I would prioritize rehabilitation first instead of replacement, as Mr. Baughn has mentioned in his article. If replacement is inevitable, then with a bridge that provides attractiveness for passers-by. In Germany, as well as parts of Europe, China, and Japan, many state-of-the-art bridges have been constructed in place of older ones. This includes various types of suspension, arch, cantilever, and truss bridges. Examples of such bridges can be found in the International Structure Database website under www.structurae.net. Concrete bridges may provide a quick fix in catering to the increasing traffic demands. However these types have a shorter lifespan than truss and cantilever bridges. This apparent with several examples of concrete bridges in MN, which have deteriorated to a point where chunks of concrete the size of bowling balls are falling onto the roadway. And these are bridges that were built in the 1970s; the same types that we are constructing today still! I believe the time is ripe to get with the program and revolutionize bridge engineering so that everyone can see a really fancy bridge that will last longer than those we are building right now. In addition, one should consider historic bridges as points of interest and give them the same privileges as with parks and monuments. Bridge marketing is not going to do, as there is little or no interest in purchasing bridges, and there are too many loopholes involved. Designating them as points of interest protected by state and federal governments, would protect them against demolition for progress and attract more tourists to areas where historic bridges are located. In terms of education, people should be more aware of the bridges in general and not be shown biased information on certain bridge types that are supposedly unsafe. This means public awareness on the value of historic bridges, on how bridges are rehabilitated, and how drivers should respect certain restrictions where applicable. In terms of policies, stricter laws should be enforced to ensure that drivers respect the restrictions of the bridges, including weight limit, height and width restrictions, and speed limits, and enforce fines and revocation of driving privileges to those who disregard them. If it means having volunteers reporting any violations on a historic bridge to the authorities, make it so. We do have the right to make a citizen's arrest on someone for committing a crime. And finally, we the people should for once start thinking for ourselves and quit taking life for granted and believing in things that are far from reality and the truth. We should think logically and take reasonable measures to ensure that the bridges we build have a maximized lifespan. This means we should consider alternative crossings if a bridge we cross has a restricted weight, height, or width limit instead of crying for a new span; especially when it comes to bridges that only carry very few cars a day. It means supporting initiatives that best makes sense in terms of durability instead of money. It's better to spend extra money on a state-of-the art structure that will last 150 years than to spend half for a plain structure that has no value. It means that we should promote rehabilitation and maintenance wherever necessary, even if it means mentioning it to politicians and other agencies. And it means respecting the value of historic bridges and their connection with American history so that the next generation can share the same experiences we make. After all, there's more to life than Ronald McDonald and Nintendo. In closing, even though there are a lot of lessons that we've learned so far from the collapse, there are some that we still don't get because of misleading information and our stupidity. By listening to the experts, thinking logically and acting rationally towards bridges in general, we will save some money, lives, and headaches. While it is too late with the I-35W Bridge, I hope rational thinking and action will be practiced on the DeSoto and Hastings Bridges in MN, as well as all other bridges that are slated for replacement. We will see that there will be more bridges that need rehabilitation than replacement to prolong their life even more, and that only a handful of bridges will need replacement and if so with something that will attract passers-by, like the ones outside the USA. Jason D. Smith Jena, Germany

The Michigan Street Bridge Was Closed But Has Re-opened...Sort Of (August 20, 2008)

A tip o' the hat to David Yates, who pointed out on the Michigan Street Bridge page that the bridge was open when he was in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin but police were monitoring traffic at each end - which set us to trying to find out what's going on. According to the Door County Advocate, the Michigan Street Bridge in Door County was closed on July 21, due to structural deterioration that was discovered in an inspection. According to authorities, people ignoring the 5 ton weight limit put too much strain on the structure, forcing the bridge to be temporarily closed to verify its safety. When it reopened on July 23, law enforcement officers began to monitor traffic to strictly enforce the 5 ton limit. The Green Bay Press Gazette reported that a truck towing a trailer got past the officers, but the driver received a citation at the other end of the bridge - an expensive toll for ignoring the weight limit. The bridge is only open 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM when Police or Sheriff Department Officers will monitor traffic. It is barricaded between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM. The historic bridge was supposed to be replaced by the new bridge that is under construction, but a popular campaign to save the old bridge succeeded. After the new bridge opens, any day now, the Michigan Street Bridge is scheduled to undergo rebuilding.The Wisconsin DOT will keep the bridge open for now, but an estimated $13 million restoration is due to begin next March. The bid process is still open, in case you'd like to get in on the action. (David also provided the photo of the bridge.)

Editorial: Fixing bridges the smart way (August 3, 2008)

Now that we've reached the one year anniversary of the Minneapolis bridge disaster, it's not hard to find politicians and newspaper columnists lamenting the sorry state of the country's infrastructure. They all say the same thing: We need to spend more money! Unfortunately, almost everybody wants to spend money on the wrong thing: replacement instead of maintenance. Even if enough money could be found to replace all of the nation's structurally deficient bridges, it wouldn't take long before these shiny new bridges fell into disrepair again. --- This column about Massachusetts bridges makes an important point:

Over the useful life of infrastructure like roads and bridges, operation and maintenance generally costs 10 times the original construction price. But public capital budgets almost always focus solely on construction costs. Maintenance expenses come out of agency operating budgets, leaving little money and no incentive to invest in preserving assets.

There's no real incentive for highway departments to properly maintain their bridges. The bridges that are in the worst shape get top priority for federal replacement money, so it's actually in the best interest of local governments to allow bridges to become structurally deficient so they can cash in. It's a race to the bottom to see who can score the lowest rating. An ounce of maintenance today would be worth a pound of replacement in the future. Simple tasks, such as repainting steel beams, or clearing away salt left behind over the winter, would help extend the useful lifespan of a bridge while boosting its sufficiency rating. But the federal government does not provide windfalls for maintenance, only replacement. To make matters worse, current policy encourages the construction of Bridges to Nowhere. An old bridge that carries very little traffic, but has a low rating, will be replaced by a huge, overengineered concrete monstrosity. Take, for example, the Lewis Bridge near Smicksburg, Pennsylvania. According to the National Bridge Inventory, this historic through truss only carries 25 cars per day, but it will cost $1.6 million to build a replacement for a bridge that isn't even structurally deficient. Let's do some back-of-the-envelope calculations. If the new bridge lasts 75 years, then we we can expect over 680,000 total crossings (that's 25 crossings per day times 365.25 days per year times 75 years). With a price tag of $1.6 million, that means each crossing will end up costing over $2.30. The numbers get even uglier if the bridge doesn't last 75 years. What a waste! I can't blame local officials for agreeing to replace bridges like this. It's a use-it-or-lose-it situation. No elected official is going to pass up a $1.6 million windfall, even if, from a big picture standpoint, it makes no practical sense whatsoever. However, if the county or township had to pay for all or most of the replacement expenses instead of Uncle Sugardaddy Sam, then things would be different. Rehabilitation and preservation would suddenly look a lot more palatable. Heck, they might even decide that a bridge only carrying 25 cars per day isn't necessary anymore and that local residents could just as easily use another bridge. With that said, I would strongly suggest that federal and state bridge programs adopt the following policy statements: 1. A percentage of available funds should be earmarked specifically for maintenance. 2. Rehabilitation should always be preferred above replacement whenever safe to do so. 3. Bridges with very low traffic volumes do not need to be built to the same standards as major highway bridges. 4. Money should be spent on bridge projects which provide the most bang for the buck at the national or state level, paying close attention to the number of people that will benefit versus the total cost. 5. If politicians don't get to attend as many photo-op ribbon cuttings because more money is spent on maintenance or on better projects in other districts, then tough. Get over it. Government is already spending a fair chunk of change on bridge and infrastructure projects. Instead of resorting to raising taxes, imposing tolls, or floating more debt, let's try to make better use of what we already have. If Minneapolis was a wake-up call, then it's time we get out of bed.

End of July updates (July 30, 2008)

The new Missouri River bridge at Bismarck, North Dakota, is set to open this week. This will replace the old Liberty Memorial Bridge, the only remaining Warren-Turner truss bridge.
A wooden bridge on the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad near Reno, Minnesota, collapsed and was involved in a 27-car derailment.
The New York Times reports on the two bridges in Mississippi County, Arkansas, available for adaptive reuse. It looks like the bridge offer has generated some interest.
Folks in Charles City are asking for donations to help restore their lost suspension bridge.
The Glasgow Bridge in Missouri is still slated for closure and demolition starting August 4. Glasgow will hold a bridge "Tribute and Jamboree" on August 2 to say farewell to the bridge before its conversion into a UCEB.
An abandoned railroad line between Gordonville and Delta, Missouri, will likely be sold for scrap. The line has a handful of historic bridges, including a large through truss at Allenville. It's not clear what will happen to the bridges. Maybe this could be a rails-to-trails project?
Good news in Branson, Missouri: The Lake Taneycomo Bridge will be preserved while a second parallel span is built to relieve traffic congestion.

Welcome, Rural Missouri readers (July 28, 2008)

Yours truly is featured in this month's edition of Rural Missouri magazine. The article talks about the first bridge I photographed seriously, the Wappapello Bridge in Missouri. Sadly, this bridge was recently demolished to make way for -- you guessed it -- an Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge (UCEB). With this loss, and the recent closure of the Dolles Mill Bridge and Lowndes Bridge, only two pin-connected through truss bridges remain open to vehicular traffic in Southeast Missouri: Indian Ford Bridge and Wardell Bridge.

Missouri flash flooding destroys one bridge, spares another (July 28, 2008)

The Columbia Bridge in Monroe County, Missouri, was wiped out by flash flooding on Saturday. This was a riveted through truss over Elk Fork of the Salt River. Meanwhile, the same river threatened the Union Covered Bridge, only one of four authentic covered bridges remaining in Missouri. However, according to Charles Havens, volunteers were able to save the bridge by taking off the wood siding, allowing water to flow over and through the bridge, but without pushing it into the river. Recent rainfall over portions of northern Missouri has been intense, possibly even record-setting, so I wouldn't be surprised if other bridges were damaged by flash floods. In related news, we now know the final tally of railroad bridges destroyed by last month's Iowa floods: 17.

July roundup (July 26, 2008)

Winneshiek County, Iowa, has received a $100,000 grant to save three historic bridges and use them on a bike trail.
A bridge over Rock Creek in Dyer County, Tennessee, will be replaced soon. The article claims this is an 1870s bridge, but as a riveted Warren pony truss it probably dates from the 1920s.
The Town Street Bridge in downtown Columbus, Ohio, was closed to traffic this week after failing an inspection. It was already scheduled for replacement next year.
When New Hampshire announced plans to replace the Seavey Creek Bridge at Rye, they offered the wooden bridge for adaptive reuse. One person has submitted a proposal for relocating the bridge.
The wreckage of the Charles City Bridge in Iowa has finally been removed from the river following its destruction during the June floods. It's not clear what will happen next.

Foxburg Bridge Demolished (July 25, 2008)

Mark Ellis reports that the Foxburg Bridge met its demise on July 24, 2008 when it was dropped into the Allegheny River. Mark posted his photos on the Foxburg Bridge page. The demolition was also captured by The Derrick & News Herald that also reports a film crew was there from The Discovery Channel. Apparently the demolition will be part of a feature program sometime in the future.

Wimer Covered Bridge restored (July 4, 2008)

The Wimer Covered Bridge in Jackson County, Oregon, has been fully restored after it collapsed in 2003. It will be dedicated this Sunday, July 6. While Oregon still has roughly 50 covered bridges, Wimer is the only one open to vehicular traffic.

Powell Bridge saved (July 1, 2008)

David Backlin sends word that the Powell Bridge in McDonald County, Missouri, will be preserved for pedestrian use after a replacement bridge is built on a new alignment. The county originally intended to tear it down, but will instead give the bridge to the Powell Historical Preservation Society. A fundraiser will be held July 4 to raise money for repairs and preservation costs.

Bridgehunting with your GPS navigator (July 1, 2008)

It's amazing what can be done with modern GPS navigation systems. I have been able to load the entire bridge database on to my low-end Garmin Nuvi 200 (roughly $150 now). With the data installed as "Custom Points of Interest" I can quickly pull up the locations of all nearby bridges while on the road. I've uploaded a ZIP file (1.8 MB) containing the necessary POI information for Garmin and possibly other GPS receivers. Inside is bridges.gpi, which can be loaded directly to recent Garmin models, and bridges.gpx, an XML file that can be edited and converted for other receivers. --- Here's how it works for Garmin devices (Note: These directions worked for me, but your mileage my vary. If you brick your device, you're on your own.) Garmin makes a POILoader.exe program for loading custom data, but it doesn't run on my Linux system. However, my Garmin (and remember this is a low-end model) has an SD card reader, so I can copy the garmin.gpi file to the card and insert the card into the GPS. After turning it on, the Garmin shows this message: "New Extras data found on card. Would you like to install this data so that it will be available if the card is removed?" If you tap Yes, the entire bridge database will be permanently loaded. Removing or updating the data will require connecting the unit to your computer with the correct USB cable. If you don't have that, I'd recommend tapping No so that the database isn't permanently loaded -- you'll still have access to it from the SD card. Despite weighing in at a hefty 7 MB, the database seems to fit comfortably within the internal storage space. Next, you can access the bridge data by going to Where to -> Extras -> Custom POIs. (This might vary on higher-end models.) You will see a list of the bridges that are closest to your current location. If you tap one, you can see a summary for the bridge. I've included a fair amount of information about each structure, including the name, Bridgehunter ID number (to make it easy to search the site for a particular bridge), overview, county, status, and history. You can tap the "More" button to see the whole summary in an easier-to-read format, although (on my Garmin at least) the summary is repeated twice for some reason. The bridge data does not show up in the regular Points of Interest search. To look for bridges far away from you, the only option is to select a new locaton manually and then go to Custom POIs to see those bridges. Updating or removing the database To make changes to the installed data, you will need a mini-USB cable to connect the device to your computer. Your operating system should treat the Garmin as an external storage device. To remove the data, go to the /Garmin/POI folder and delete the bridges.gpi file. Copying over a new version from your computer doesn't seem to work (at least in my testing). It may be possible to copy or update using the POILoader.exe program, although I haven't had the chance to try that. Adding bridges If, while travelling, you stumble across an interesting bridge, you can easily save the coordinates for later. Go to Where to? -> Coordinates -> Next -> Save -> (Enter a label for future reference) -> Done. This will add the current location to your "Favorites." When you get home, connect the device to your computer and look for the /GPX/current.gpx file. This contains an XML listing of your favorite places, which you can view using a text editor to extract the latitude/longitude coordinates. (Warning: In the process of fiddling with my Garmin to write these instructions, I somehow loaded a bunch of random bridges from the database into my Favorites. I didn't lose any of my existing Favorites, but now I have a bunch of bridges from who-knows-where cluttering the list, with no easy way to remove them. So be careful.) Other brands The ZIP file also contains a bridges.gpx file using the standard GPX format for storing GPS information. It might be possible to use gpsbabel or another program to convert this file into the POI format used by TomTom or other GPS brands. I believe it's also possible to convert GPX into the KML format used by Google Earth.

I-94 Reopens in Wisconsin (June 26, 2008)

The bridges that carry westbound I-94 over the Rock River and the Crawfish River, closed because threats from flood water, have reopened. AM620 WTMJ News reports that Wisconsin DOT has thoroughly inspected both bridges and determined them to be safe. The eastbound lanes will be restricted to one lane on June 27 to facilitate removal of the crossovers that were installed last week.

Another railroad bridge lost in Iowa (June 25, 2008)

A railroad bridge leading to a Tyson's plant near Columbus Junction, Iowa, collapsed last night, injuring the engineer who had to be rescued from the water. This appears to have been a wooden trestle over a backwater channel. Officials are worried about the integrity of the Park Road Bridge in Iowa City. This bridge -- and perhaps many others -- may have suffered from scouring by the strong current of the floodwaters. The Federal government has authorized an emergency $1 million for bridge and road repairs.

June 24 Iowa update (June 24, 2008)

Workers attempted to pull the wreckage of the Charles City Suspension Bridge out of the river, but were stymied by the soft ground and tangled mess. The good news is that most of the bridge remains on site and didn't wash downstream. It's possible that some can be salvaged as part of a reconstruction. Three more bridges have been reportedly washed out by the floods, this time in Butler County. Meanwhile, the approaches to two bridges in Cedar County were damaged and could take months to repair.