Bridgehunter.com News

Historic Bridge Weekend Coming to Iowa

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:00:00 PST

Each year since 2009, the Historic Bridge Weekend has taken place in August or September, and each year, it has drawn in more people who are experts in historic bridges, preservation or history, as well as those who are either bridge enthusiasts or have a keen interest in how these vintage structures were built and how they played a role in American History.

This year's Historic Bridge Weekend will focus on Iowa, where various types of historic bridges dating as far back as the 1870s can still be seen today, each having its own history in terms of bridge builder and in terms of its association with the communities that cherish them.

The 5th annual event will take place August 9th through the 12th and will focus on eastern Iowa and the Des Moines area. A formal dedication dinner honoring James Hippen will take place August 9th at the Stone City General Store near Anamosa, with dinner and presentations taking place August 10th at Baxa's Restaurant and Tavern next to Sutliff Bridge and August 11th at Horn's Ferry Bridge at 2:30pm as well as at Bos Landen Golf Course near the Horn's Ferry Bridge in Pella at 5:30pm.

The trip to the Kate Shelley Viaduct on the morning of August 12 will round off the four-day event.

More information on the HB Weekend, as well as contact details can be found via link here: http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2013/04/02/5th-annual-historic-bridge-weekend-coming-to-iowa/

Please RSPV Jason Smith before July 15th if you are interested in participating in the HB Weekend and attending the dinner and presentations, so that the venues know how many will attend and you can plan accordingly. Hope to see you at this year's HB Weekend in Iowa.

New site features

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 PST

You may have noticed some new features rolled out over the last few weeks:

County pages now have filters for hiding or showing different classes of bridges (lost, modern and covered). The system remembers your settings from page to page.
Likewise, the Updates page has filters to hide/show different kinds of changes. This way you can filter out minor updates, but highlight major status changes (such as a bridge being demolished).
On bridge pages, the major tools (Photo gallery, Google Map and Google Street View) are customizable. Just look for the "Preference" pulldown menu to see the options. All of these settings are remembered via cookies, so they apply to each computer or device separately, and no login is required. So, you could allow Street View on your desktop computer, but hide it on your smartphone.
The new "Reports" tab in the main navigation bar includes various kinds of statistics about bridges listed on the site.
By popular demand, photos are now automatically enhanced with a special color-balance tool. The idea is to match the style popularized by one of our regular contributors. He claims that the unique colors in his photos are the result of busted camera settings, but we all know that he was ahead of his time in using an Instagram-like style long before Instagram was a thing. For now, this feature only applies to thumbnails, but I plan to roll it out to all photos.

Announcing the 2013 TRUSS Awards

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 PST

Here are the winners of this year's TRUSS Awards (Top Rated Unique Savable Structures), representing the "best" projects from those that were nominated. Of course, "best" is a subjective measure, and it wasn't easy to pick the winners from the large pool of nominees. But these bridges are all special and deserve every ounce of attention and support we can muster. (And let's not forget about the winners from previous years.)

Congratulations to the nominators and all of the people involved in the campaigns to save these bridges!

Aetnaville Bridge (Ohio County, West Virginia, and Belmont County, Ohio)

Joshua Collins

The bridge: Built 1891, this four-span pin-connected Pennsylvania through truss crosses a back channel of the Ohio River between Ohio and West Virginia. It was closed to traffic in 1988 and continues to deteriorate.

The significance: While overshadowed by the nearby Wheeling Suspension Bridge, this is still an ornate and rare example of a multiple-span Pennsylvania truss. It is a contributing resource for the National Register Wheeling Island Historic District.

The situation: Not content with demolishing the nearby Bridgeport Bridge, the West Virginia Division of Highways now wants to remove this bridge.

The plan: The Aetnaville Bridge represents a key missing link in a bike trail between West Virginia, Ohio, and beyond. Ohio Valley Trail Partners is pushing the save the bridge and restore it for bicycle/pedestrian use. This is a reasonable idea, but action will need to be taken soon before WVDOH gets bulldozer-happy again.

Mulberry Creek Bridge (Ford County, Kansas)

Wayne R Keller

The bridge: This is a two-span pin-connected Pratt through truss relocated here in the late 1950s. The two spans were originally part of the six-span Second Avenue Bridge over the Arkansas River in Dodge City, built 1906.

Truss bridges in western Kansas are exceedingly rare.

The situation: The bridge failed an inspection in May 2012 and the county wants to replace it with a culvert. However, the culvert would be prone to flooding, making access to local properties difficult or impossible during wet weather.

The plan: Wayne R Keller, who owns a ranch on the road, is trying to stop the county from demolishing the bridge. The bridge could be repaired -- the biggest issue is a broken pin that, as it turns out, is not a pin at all, but a makeshift piece of metal used when the bridge was reconstructed in the 1950s.

B.B. Comer Bridge (Jackson County, Alabama)

Sheila Fossett

The bridge: This 1930 cantilever through truss carries eastbound AL 35 traffic over the Tennessee River (Guntersville Lake) near Scottsboro. A modern parallel bridge, built 1985, carries westbound traffic.

The significance: Starting in 1927, the Alabama State Bridge Corporation built 15 memorial toll bridges across the state. The B.B. Comer Bridge is the last remaining bridge from this era. Alabama's inventory of historic metal bridges continues to dwindle, a point made clear with the ridiculous loss of Lauderdale County's Ghost Bridge in January.

The situation: Construction started in 2007 to build a replacement bridge on a new alignment. This project is expected to be finished in 2015, concluding with the demolition of the B.B. Comer Bridge.

The plan: A vigorous Facebook campaign to save the bridge has over 2,000 members. The bridge could be preserved as a bicycle/pedestrian walkway. Since the Tennessee River is a navigable waterway, it may not be realistic to save the whole bridge -- especially with the U.S. Coast Guard involved -- but some effort could still be made to save the southeastern approach spans as a walkway. This wouldn't be unprecedented: the Old Railroad Bridge over the Tennessee River at Florence could serve as a model.

Long Meadow Bridge (Hennepin County, Minnesota)

Jason Smith

The bridge: This is a five-span riveted Camelback through truss built in 1920 over a lake next to the Minnesota River. It was bypassed by a new bridge on Cedar Avenue in 1979. The City of Bloomington reluctantly took ownership in 1981, but by 2002, the historic bridge had deteriorated to the point where it was deemed unsafe even for pedestrians.

The significance: Five-span through trusses aren't exactly around every corner. Last year, the Bloomington Historical Society received a state grant to prepare a nomination to list the bridge on the National Register.

The situation: The city wants to demolish the bridge and replace it with either a UCEB or a berm that would provide bicycle/pedestrian access across Long Meadow Lake. However, the land surrounding the bridge is part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and the federal government has refused to issue permits to allow demolition. For now, with the two sides at a stalemate, the bridge continues to deteriorate.

The plan: Rehabilitating the Long Meadow Bridge would restore an important bicycle/pedestrian link across the Minnesota River waterway. The Bloomington city engineer is adamant that the bridge must be demolished, so it will be up to local organizations or some other government agency to save the bridge (and take it away from the city's clutches).

Vera Cruz Bridge (Wells County, Indiana)

Tony Dillon

The bridge: This is an 1887 wrought-iron Whipple through truss. It was bypassed by a modern bridge in 1984, but was allowed to remain standing.

The significance: Even in a state known for its Whipple trusses, the population is growing thinner.

The situation: The stone abutments are crumbling, putting this bridge in jeopardy of collapsing. In 2009, Tony Dillon posted, "It is wrought iron so the trusses are in pretty good shape. However the problem lies with the trees that are growing at the ends of the bridge. The abutments are made of unusually small stones, and the tree roots are starting to cause some major separation." The situation hasn't improved since then.

The plan: Unless the abutments can be repaired somehow, a new home for this bridge will need to be found before it is too late. Meanwhile, the Feederdam Bridge in Clay County (1894 Whipple) faces the same situation.

Fairfax Bridge/Platte Purchase Bridge (Platte County, Missouri, and Wyandotte County, Kansas)

James Baughn

The bridges: This is a pair of cantilever through trusses over the Missouri River in the Kansas City area. The Fairfax Bridge, built in 1935 and now carrying southbound traffic, is the older of the pair, but the northbound 1957 Platte Purchase Bridge is also historic in its own right.

The significance: Cantilever trusses over the Missouri River in Missouri are an endangered species. The Miami and Hermann bridges have already been demolished; the Amelia Earhart is next; and the Daniel Boone and Washington bridges will fall in the coming years. Before long, the Fairfax Bridge will be the oldest of its class in Missouri. It is National Register eligible.

The situation: MoDOT is currently studying "alternatives" for the two bridges, but naturally all of the alternatives feature demolition of at least the Fairfax Bridge, and possibly the Platte Purchase Bridge as well.

The plan: Kansas City has a serious lack of bicycle/pedestrian access across the Missouri River, and the Fairfax would be the perfect ticket to correct this problem. If a new bridge is built, the Fairfax should be retained for bicycle use -- a move that would somewhat mitigate the shortsighted decision to destroy the Chouteau Bridge in 2001.

Rainbow Bridge (McLean County, Illinois)

The bridge: This is a bowstring through truss, reportedly built 1868 by the King Iron Bridge Co.

The significance: If the 1868 date is accurate, this might be the oldest remaining bowstring truss in the country. It is National Register eligible.

The situation: The bridge is now derelict with the deck missing, but is otherwise in decent condition.

The plan: Although not in immediate danger, this bridge is too significant to risk allowing it to succumb to Mother Nature. In 1993, McLean County pursued federal grants to build a park next to the bridge and refurbish it for pedestrian use, but that idea fell through. It's time to try again.

Big Elm Creek Bridge (Falls County, Texas)

Roger & Kathleen Schumacher

The bridge: This is a bowstring pony truss that still carries traffic, but with very low inspection ratings. It has the appearance of an 1870s-era King Bridge Co. span.

The significance: This is one of only five known bowstrings in Texas, and the last to carry vehicular traffic.

The situation: The low rating makes this a likely candidate for replacement at some point in the future. Roger & Kathleen Schumacher posted this comment: "Come quick, every old bridge in the area is being replaced."

The plan: Ideally, this bridge could be rehabilitated to continue carrying light traffic. If that isn't feasible, then this bridge should be preserved in a new location (it's only 70 feet long). Meanwhile, the abandoned Jonesboro Bridge in Hamilton County, with a nearly identical design, also needs attention.

Lofton Henderson Memorial Bridge (Lorain County, Ohio)

The bridge: A cantilevered through truss, this 1939 bridge carries four lanes of traffic high above the Black River Ship Channel.

The significance: An iconic part of Lorain, Ohio, this bridge is National Register eligible and recognized as "Select" on the Ohio Historic Bridge List.

The situation: Despite having a relatively good sufficiency rating (58.7), officials want to get rid of this bridge. The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency website says that the bridge is programmed for replacement starting in 2016.

The plan: As a "Select" bridge that is still in reasonably good condition, the government needs to do a better job of exploring alternatives to replacement. If the current bridge is too narrow -- the usual excuse for demolition -- then why not consider building a parallel bridge?

Arkadelphia Bridge (Clark County, Arkansas)

Wayne Kizziar

The bridge: Originally built in 1933, this Parker through truss was relocated to Arkadelphia in 1960.

The significance: This is one of a dwindling number of through trusses on Arkansas state highways. It was added to the National Register in 2006.

The situation: AHTD has announced plans to replace the bridge, although squabbling over the location of the replacement bridge has delayed the project. The bridge has a relatively decent sufficiency rating (44) and is not considered structurally deficient.

The plan: If the new bridge is built as part of a bypass some distance away, then it makes more sense to retain the old bridge for local downtown traffic. AHTD has previously offered the bridge for adaptive reuse, with no takers, but the bridge doesn't necessarily need to be reused at all -- it's just fine where it is, as long as heavy highway traffic is diverted elsewhere.

Bonus!

I had originally planned to only pick ten winners, but three more worthy bridges crossed my desk soon after the nomination deadline. These bridges are too important to ignore: the first is nationally significant, while the other two face urgent threats. As a result, I've decided to expand the winner's circle to feature "13 for '13."

English Center Bridge (Lycoming County, Pennsylvania)

Historic American Engineering Record

The bridge: This one-of-a-kind bridge built in 1891 has the appearance of an eyebar suspension bridge, but is usually described as a "two-hinged inverted trussed arch."

The significance: This bridge has been the subject of intense engineering analysis, including detailed HAER reports, to determine exactly how it functions, a question that is still open to debate. The bridge was added to the National Register in 1978, a very early date.

The situation: PennDOT closed the bridge to traffic in May 2012 because "one of the cross member supports snapped." A letter dated Jan. 14, 2013, states that the agency "is in the preliminary phase of the transportation development process to establish a statement of purpose and need and study alternatives..." Unfortunately, based on Pennsylvania's reputation, it's easy be cynical and expect that the "alternatives" will consist of (a) demolition (b) demolition or (c) demolition.

The plan: It may not be feasible to repair this bridge for vehicular use, especially with increasing volumes of traffic connected to the natural gas fracking industry in the area. However, even if a modern bridge is built, there is absolutely no excuse for removing this nationally-significant structure. This point needs to be expressed to PennDOT early and often.

Seven Island Bridge (Stokes County, North Carolina)

The bridge: Built in 1905, this pinned Pratt through truss was relocated in 1926 to span the Dan River on Seven Island Road.

The significance: This is one of a dwindling number of pin-connected truss bridges in North Carolina.

The situation: In 2005, when NCDOT was prepared to replace the bridge, the Town of Danbury agreed to take over ownership, hoping to eventually use it for a pedestrian crossing at a park. In preparation, the superstructure was moved to a private field, but the town's five-year contract with the landowner to store the bridge has expired. Now the town, which does not have the resources to move and restore the bridge, is trying to find a solution -- but the clock is ticking.

The plan: It would be a shame to lose this bridge after it was already "saved" once before. Since the bridge is sitting on blocks over dry land, this represents an easier restoration project than usual. The town is soliciting proposals for finding a new home for the bridge; see the town website for details. The deadline is Feb. 26.

Whitewater River Bridge (Butler County, Kansas)

Jim Lytton

The bridge: Jim Lytton discovered and photographed this wrought-iron Pratt through truss, built in 1886 by P.E. Lane.

The significance: At present, only six known P.E. Lane bridges remain across the country. It seems almost certain this bridge would be declared National Register eligible if formally reviewed.

The situation: Abandoned on a private farm lane, the main stone pier on this bridge shows an alarming amount of decay. It's a small miracle that the truss has held firm this long.

The plan: Robert Elder writes, "I strongly suspect that there would be interest in preserving this bridge if local residents and officials were made aware of its existence."

Looking back on previous winners

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

Before announcing the winners for this year's TRUSS Awards, I thought it would be helpful to check on the status of winners from the first two years. For most bridges, nothing much has happened -- good or bad -- although the day of reckoning is quickly approaching for many of them:

2012 winners

Washington Bridge (Franklin County, Missouri) - Still scheduled for replacement in the next few years
Meadows Road Bridge (Northampton County, Pennsylvania) - This bridge is still standing, but a decision on its future is still pending.
Danville-Mickles Bowstring Bridge (Yell County, Arkansas) - No change
Neosho River K-47 Bridge (Neosho County, Kansas) - Construction on a replacement bridge is underway. When the old bridge is demolished, only two other bridges of this kind will remain (one in Kansas and one in Nebraska).
Cedar Grove Bridge (Franklin County, Indiana) - Local organizations are trying to raise money to acquire the bridge and restore it for a pedestrian/bicycle trail.
Meridian Street Bridge (Pierce County, Washington) - This bridge is still scheduled for replacement, although interest has been shown in relocating it for use on a recreational trail.
Bolivia Road Bridge (Sangamon and Christian counties, Illinois) - Still slated to be replaced
Cascade Bridge (Des Moines County, Iowa) - Demolition of this rare deck truss remains likely.
Newport Bridge (Jackson County, Arkansas) - Planning continues for a replacement bridge, but hopefully the old bridge will be taken over by the city of Newport and allowed to remain standing.
CStPM&O Bridge (Eau Claire County, Wisconsin) - Work to rehabilitate this bridge and open it for pedestrian use is expected to be completed in 2013.
Black Bridge (Albany County, New York) - Plans are still underway to rehabilitate this bridge as part of a bike trail, but bids for the project came in higher than expected.
Murray Bridge (Humboldt County, Iowa) - Situation unknown
Hulton Bridge (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania) - Construction of the replacement bridge on a new alignment is slated to begin Fall 2013 and be completed by 2016, with demolition of the old bridge soon after
Sixth Street Bridge (Los Angeles County, California) - A design for the replacement bridge has been selected, with construction set to begin in 2015.
Tappan Zee Bridge (Rockland and Westchester counties, New York) - While state officials briefly discussed keeping the old bridge for pedestrian/bicycle use, that idea is now off the table. Construction on the replacement bridge is expected to begin this year.

2011 winners

McMillin Bridge (Pierce County, Washington) - The state highway department is still adamant about demolishing this one-of-a-kind concrete truss bridge, but a feature story in a local newspaper chastises this decision.
Mitchell River Bridge (Barnstable County, Massachusetts) - Still likely to be replaced
Beatty Road Bridge (Morrow County, Ohio) - Bridge is still closed
Mead Avenue Bridge (Crawford County, Pennsylvania) - Bridge is still scheduled to be replaced, likely starting Summer 2013
Long Shoals Bridge (Bourbon County, Kansas) - Plans are underway to move this bridge to Fort Scott's riverfront. The bridge will retain its National Register listing after the move.
Springfield Bridge (Faulkner and Conway counties, Arkansas) - Bridge is still slowly deteriorating
Independence Bowstring Bridge (Montgomery County, Kansas) - No change
Meramec River US 66 Bridge (St. Louis County, Missouri) - The bridge's deck was removed in 2012 in an effort to reduce the weight on the bridge and buy more time. Local organizations are still working to rehabilitate this bridge for bicycle/pedestrian use as part of Route 66 State Park.
Nachitoch Bluff Bridge (Clark and Nevada Counties, Arkansas) - Still abandoned
Panther Creek Bridge (Miami County, Ohio) - Situation unknown
Wagon Wheel Bridge (Boone County, Iowa) - Situation unknown
Riverside Bridge (Christian County, Missouri) - The future of this bridge is still uncertain.

Watch out for errors

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

I've been busy over the last few days making behind-the-scenes changes to this website (as well as landmarkhunter.com and uglybridges.com) that will hopefully make the site load faster.

With any major programming overhaul, however, it's almost certain that ugly bugs will appear. If you see any errors -- especially the dreaded "Something went wrong" message -- then please let me know.

One last reminder: The deadline for submitting TRUSS Award nominations is this Friday, Jan. 18.

While you are pondering which bridges to submit, you may also want to consider going out on a limb and nominating a threatened bridge to the America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places program run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The deadline for 2013 nominations is March 1st. It would be ideal to see at least one bridge listed every year. Many states and some cities also have historic preservation organizations that run similar programs, so be sure to check them out as well.

What new features would you like to see?

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

As the new year arrives, we can try to be optimistic that 2013 won't bring as many demolitions and UCEBs as the last year. But I'm not holding my breath.

This is a good time to pause and reflect. What features or improvements would you like to see on this site? You can use this story to post your thoughts.

Reminder: I'm collecting nominations for the TRUSS Awards until Jan. 18, but please don't procrastinate. Right now 26 nominations have been submitted, but that's much less than in previous years.

One final plug: The hosting bills for this website have been steadily increasing thanks to the recent growth in traffic and uploaded photos. It's a good problem to have, I suppose, but it's still a problem. You can help by making a donation toward hosting costs.

Merry Christmas

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:00:00 PST

If you have some free time during the holidays, or you're looking for an excuse to take a break from your relatives, then I have the perfect mission for you: nominating a worthy bridge for the 2013 TRUSS Awards. This award is intended for historic bridges that are threatened with demolition or neglect, but are worthy of saving.

To nominate a bridge, navigation to that bridge's page and then click the yellow "Nominate" button. If a bridge isn't listed, then follow this link.

The deadline for nominations is January 18, 2013.

Try out the new "What's Here?" feature

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:00:00 PST

If you have an editor's account, you may have noticed the "What's Here?" button next to the map when adding or editing a bridge. This feature generates a list of geographic entities located near the bridge. Click on the "Show" link next an item to see it superimposed on the map.

Right now, the tool shows these items:

Counties
County subdivisions (townships, New England towns, precincts, etc.)
Incorporated places (cities, towns, villages, etc.)
Quadrangle maps from the USGS, with link to download
Railroad lines, with the yard or subdivision if available
Other bridges
Listings from uglybridges.com

This tool should help settle arguments over the ownership of railroad lines, as well as whether a bridge is located in a certain town or township. It should also help cut down on duplicate listings, since it will show other nearby bridges that are already listed.

Right now this is a highly experimental feature. I plan to expand it to cover other things (rivers, lakes, highways, streets, public land). If this is successful, and it doesn't overload the webserver, then I hope to make this tool more widely available.

The "accidental" historic bridge park

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:00:00 PST

Calhoun County, Michigan, has received much deserved praise for the Historic Bridge Park that has provided a home for truss bridges relocated from elsewhere.

But Clay County, Illinois, has something equally special. Sadly, it has gone unnoticed.

When US 50 was constructed in the early 1920s, the concrete highway included three through truss bridges and one long concrete girder bridge. Three of the four bridges were built with unusual brick parapets.

The highway was bypassed decades ago by a new alignment, but everything from the vintage highway remains intact: the bridges, the concrete pavement, and the brickwork. Of course, the lack of maintenance has caused the structures to deteriorate, especially the intricate brickwork.

While the bridges are barricaded, the connecting stretches of concrete highway are still open to traffic (for landowner access), but see virtually no use, except perhaps from ATV riders. The pavement is rough, but this 2.5 mile stretch of vintage highway has potential as a pedestrian/bicycle trail. With some repairs, brush clearing, and signage, this could be a wonderful park that would cost relatively little.

Unfortunately, the replacement bridges on US 50 are also deteriorating, and IDOT intends to replace them in the coming years. This means that the historic bridges, which sit side-by-side to the replacement bridges, are likely in jeopardy because of their proximity to the construction area.

Local and state officials probably consider these orphaned bridges to be a liability, but with the right marketing, they could be transformed into an asset instead. The concrete girder bridge has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, but I feel the entire collection of bridges and pavement should be evaluated as a potential historic district.

This could become a recognized historic site and a recreation area, all with a budget that would be far lower than what other counties and towns are spending to build brand-new walking and bicycle trails.

The bridges, from west to east:

Little Wabash River Bridge: Pin-connected, 9-panel Parker through truss
Little Wabash River Overflow Bridge: 500-ft long concrete girder bridge with brick parapets
Little Muddy Creek Bridge: Riveted, 7-panel Pratt through truss; approaches have brick parapets
Unnamed Culvert: Small box culvert with brick parapet remaining on one side (still legally open to traffic)
Big Muddy Creek Bridge: Riveted, 7-panel Pratt through truss; approaches have brick parapets

2012 Ammann Awards: Now Accepting Nominations

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 PST

This month is National Historic Bridge Month, and with that comes the second annual Othmar H. Ammann Awards, given out by the Bridgehunter's Chronicles. Between now and the 30 November at 12:00am Central Standard Time (USA) and 1 December at 12:00pm Central European Time (Europe), the Bridgehunter's Chronicles is taking nominations for the Lifetime Legacy, Best Snapshot and Best Kept Secret Awards, as well as Awards for the Best Mystery Bridge and the Bridge of the Year- two new categories introduced for this year. More information on how to nominate your photo, bridge and person can be seen via link here:

http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2012/11/05/2012-othmar-h-ammann-awards-now-taking-entries/

The winner will be announced on 23 December.

The Bridgehunter's Chronicles has also started a new page with the best bridge preservation examples, providing people with some live examples of historic bridges that were preserved to use as a reference for their bridge that is a target of preservation versus progress. If you have a success story that you would like to share on the Chronicles, please contact Jason D. Smith at the Chronicles at: flensburg.bridgehunter.av@googlemail.com or JDSmith77@gmx.net.

Other historic bridge campaigns and mystery bridges are still being gathered for posting as well. If you have one that needs attention of the general public, out with it! You'll be amazed at the support you will receive on a larger more global scale. Thank you.

Historic Bridge Conference scheduled for September

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00:00 PST

The 4th annual historic bridge conference will be held Sept. 21-23, 2012. This year's destination is the Hoosier state, featuring a tour of bridges around Indianapolis and southern Indiana, with special attention on the doomed Madison Bridge as well as the always-photogenic Laughery "Triple Whipple" Creek Bridge.

For information, contact host Tony Dillon at spansaver@hotmail.com.

Bridgehunter's Chronicles now taking articles and mystery bridge photos

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 00:00:00 PST

While the author has been busy profiling some of the historic bridges, providing readers with tours of areas with high numbers of historic bridges, following up on preservation attempts on many, writing about ways to preserve them and digging out some interesting facts on them, or should I say how to find them, there are many historic bridges out there that are threatened with demolition but preservation groups are working to save them and need your help. This includes the Orange Road Bridge in Ohio, the Ft. Atkinson Bridge in Iowa and the Amelia Earhart Bridge in Kansas, just to name a few.

The Bridgehunter's Chronicles would like to help you bring these historic bridges to the attention of the readers, with the goal of providing support and addressing the issues involved with these precious vintage structures.

If you are part of an organization that is working to save a historic bridge or know a historic bridge that is threatened with demolition but would like to save it, please provide a short summary of the structure (history, status, etc.) as well as plans for preserving the structure and a couple photos and send them to Jason D. Smith using the following e-mail address: flensburg.bridgehunter.av@googlemail.com. The information will then be posted on the Bridgehunter's Chronicles, where you will receive some feedback and support for your historic bridge with hopes that you will garner enough support and interest to save the structure. These articles will be posted starting in September.

In addition to that, the Bridgehunter's Chronicles is also looking for any mystery bridges that deserve to be posted. If you have a bridge, whose information is missing and would like to know more about its origins, please send the author a photo with some information (including what questions you want solved on this structure) to the above-mentioned address. The mystery bridges will be posted in the Chronicles beginning in September and listed under the heading "Mystery Bridges." Please be aware that these mystery bridges you present must be those that were built in 1945 and earlier.

The Bridgehunter's Chronicles is a column that brings the past of historic bridges to light, and provides support for preserving historic bridges for future generations to come. After all, historic bridges are relics that deserve our attention.

I-35W Bridge Disaster: Five Years Later

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:00:00 PST

There have been a lot of stories related to the five-year anniversary of the I-35W Bridge Disaster in Minneapolis, MN. On this day five years ago, the steel cantilever deck truss bridge collapsed during rush hour as many people were either returning home from work or attending a baseball game. 13 people were killed and more than 150 people were injured in that crash. The bridge collapsed severed the most important north-south link through Minneapolis and it would take over a year and a half until the new bridge was completed and opened to traffic. The tragedy created an outcry that the US was not doing enough to maintain its bridges and other infrastructure. It even started a crusade to eradicate structurally deficient bridges, in particular, the truss and cantilever bridges. Yet by the same token, it created awareness about the importance of preserving our past artifacts and has opened new opportunities for engineers, historians, technicians and bridge-lovers alike. While there is a lot to say about how things have changed in the five years since the tragedy, but I compiled an article which will describe the successes and shortcomings we have had since that time. While we haven't had a tragedy as severe as this one since 2007, we want to make sure that not only our bridges are safe, but our historic bridges receive just as much care as all the others. So read this narrative and think about what we have accomplished, what we should accomplish and what is yet to come in the next five years and beyond. Enjoy.

Link: http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2012/08/02/2-august-2007-five-years-later-how-the-minneapolis-bridge-disaster-changed-the-way-we-look-at-bridges/

Lessons learned from Eggner's Ferry Bridge

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 PST

"Near miraculous." That's how one official from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet described how everything came together to allow the Eggner's Ferry Bridge to be reopened to traffic in time for the summer boating season. When an off-course cargo ship obliterated one of the bridge's through truss spans on Jan. 26, the situation looked dire. The Kentucky Lake region depends on tourism, and those tourists were likely to go someplace else during the summer to avoid the lengthy detours caused by the loss of the bridge.

Despite the total destruction of a 322-ft span, the rest of the bridge, including the piers, remained intact. That's when KYTC decided to try to reopen the bridge with a temporary span. Hall Contracting, the same company that performed emergency repairs on the Sherman Minton Bridge at Louisville, was hired to fabricate and install a temporary span at Eggner's Ferry -- with a very strict deadline of Memorial Day. They delivered two-and-a-half days ahead of the deadline.

Thanks to the early completion, KYTC decided to open the bridge to pedestrians during the morning of May 25 before allowing vehicular traffic. This was a repeat of the wildly successful "Bridge Day" at Owensboro, Kentucky, where a massive crowd came to see the newly refurbished Blue Bridge across the Ohio River. The Bridge Day at Eggner's Ferry, coming on a weekday with only several hours notice, wasn't able to attract the same overflowing crowd. But that didn't matter: a sizable crowd did arrive, and everybody who walked, bicycled, scooted, or golf-carted across the bridge had reason to be absolutely jubilant.

The new truss span, a simple Warren design, isn't nearly as intricate as the historic Parker and Pratt trusses, and it tends to stick out like a sore thumb. But it's better than 322 feet of thin air. Or a UCEB.

Now that the Eggner's Ferry Bridge has reached a happy ending (at least until it's replaced in a few years), we should consider some important lessons from this episode:

1. When disaster strikes, don't just scrap everything and start over

Immediately after the cargo ship struck the bridge, it seemed that the most likely outcome would be for the old bridge to be scrapped while construction would be expedited on a replacement bridge. That's the typical response in modern American society, after all: scrap first and ask questions later. If this option had been chosen, however, people around Kentucky Lake would expect to be making lengthy detours for two, three, or four more summer tourist seasons. Thankfully, circumstances made it feasible to repair instead of scrap; based on past experience, however, it's safe to say that not every highway department would have even entertained the idea of trying to repair the damaged bridge.

2. Trusses are still a viable technology

In the aftermath of the I-35W Bridge collapse, truss bridges took a bum rap, with "experts" appearing out of the woodwork to claim that truss designs are inherently unsafe because they are "fracture critical." We've seen campaigns in many states and counties to eliminate all truss bridges from public roads, conveniently ignoring that other bridge designs have their own Achilles' heels.

Nevertheless, it was a truss design that was chosen for the replacement span at Eggner's Ferry. The span was assembled off-site and then floated up Kentucky Lake by barge to the bridge site, where two cranes hoisted the superstructure into place. It was an economical design that could be rapidly put together and installed. The more things change, the more they stay the same: these are the same benefits that bridge companies have touted for truss designs for the last century-and-a-half.

3. Truss spans can be moved

In a recent forum comment, a letter from an Ohio legislative aide was posted arguing that relocating truss bridges was an "unheard practice in today's technological age." What a load of expletive. Even with all of these technological advances at their disposal, the contractor for rebuilding Eggner's Ferry Bridge still relied on the tried-and-true practice of moving a prefabricated truss into place. Meanwhile, just downstream at Kentucky Dam, a new railroad truss bridge was built in 2009 using the same method: floating the truss by boat and then lifting it into place. And let's not forget about the amazing development in Illinois last year where a UCEB was replaced by a historic through truss relocated from another location.

Trusses were meant to be moved, either for initial construction or for later reuse elsewhere. This was a selling point historically, and is still true today... except perhaps in Ohio.

4. Bridge events bring crowds

It was fun to see all of the camera-toting people studying every square inch of the bridge while it was open to pedestrians. Letting visitors get a sneak preview of the bridge repairs was a nice touch, something that other highway departments should embrace. With last year's Bridge Day at Owensboro and now the Bridge Party at Eggners Ferry, it seems Kentucky has stumbled across an offbeat, but successful, kind of tourist attraction.

5. Throw enough money at a engineering problem, and anything is possible.

Well, I think we all knew this. It's just too bad there aren't a whole lot of opportunities for politicians to throw money at repairing historic bridges.

Missouri to name every new bridge after senator

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 PST

Missouri already has two bridges named after former senator Christopher "Kit" Bond, but that's not enough to satisfy the Missouri General Assembly, which now wants all future bridges to be named for him.

"We're not satisfied with just the new bridges at Hermann and Kansas City named for Kit Bond, we want everything," explained a spokesperson for the Missouri Republican Party.

Next week, the Missouri Department of Transportation will cut the ribbon on a new 23 foot culvert in Audrain County, to be dubbed the Kit Bond Commemorative Culvert. That will soon be followed by a new UCEB built in St. Louis County, to be officially called the Christopher S. Bond Viaduct Sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.

The plan has drawn fire, however, especially from Missouri Democrats. "First they want to name everything after Ronald Reagan, and now this. Sheesh," wrote a left-leaning blogger from St. Louis.

Lirpa Sloof, a popular Missouri radio host, said on the air yesterday, "Has anybody seen the new bridge at Hermann? It's butt ugly! Instead of being an honor for Kit Bond, the name of the bridge is the ultimate insult toward him. What a joke."

Happy April Fools Day!

Missing span of Kentucky bridge to be rebuilt

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:00 PST

When we last saw the Eggner's Ferry Bridge, a large cargo ship was stuck next to the bridge with the wreckage of an annihiliated truss span draped across the bow.

Since then, the wreckage was cleared away, the ship was repaired and sent underway, and now the state has let an ambitious $7 million contract to replace the missing span by Memorial Day.

Naturally, local residents are thrilled about the repair contract. This is much better than the alternative, a ferry crossing, which probably wouldn't be in operation before Memorial Day anyway -- and would be a bottleneck on a good day.

Details about the replacement span are sketchy, but it appears that it will be some kind of truss span (a Bailey-like design perhaps?). The local newspaper reports:

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet outlined the structure that will replace the bridge span in its bid request. The section will be a railing system at least as strong as the existing bridge, with comporting dimensions. The deck will be 20 feet wide, made of asphalt or concrete. The trusses will be painted to match the color of the adjacent spans.

This will certainly be an interesting sight, at least until the entire structure is replaced by a new four-lane bridge in a few years.

In other related news:

The name of the Eggner's Ferry Bridge has become the subject of debate -- maybe it's Eggners Ferry, maybe it's Eggner Ferry, or maybe it's even Egner Ferry.
Just down the road from Eggner's Ferry, a similar truss bridge over Lake Barkley was briefly closed following a barge strike. The bridge is fine, but I can only imagine the sickening "Oh crap not again!" feeling experienced by locals.
The doomed Ledbetter Bridge near Paducah, Kentucky, now has a 35-mph speed limit to go with the 3-ton weight limit. Weigh-in-motion sensors have been installed to enforce the weight limit.
The Mississippi River Bridge at Cairo, Illinois, has finally reopened to traffic following a more than year long closure. Unlike Kentucky, Illinois decided to shut down the bridge to all traffic in response to truckers ignoring the 15-ton weight limit -- even though funding for the repair work wouldn't be available for most of a year. Thankfully Kentucky is slightly more clueful in how to handle these situations.

Finally, the winners for 2012

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Without further ado -- or procrastinating -- here are the winners of this year's TRUSS Awards for the top bridges that are endangered and worthy of preservation. In no particular order:

Washington Bridge (Franklin County, Missouri)

This photogenic bridge over the Missouri River is featured prominently on the city's tourism website and billboards. If this large cantilever bridge is replaced by a UCEB, as the Missouri Department of Transportation proposes, then I doubt that the new bridge will be featured at all. If the replacement is anything like the uninspired concrete slabs built upstream at Hermann or Lexington, then it's likely to be ignored altogether.

Under the proposed agreement for funding the bridge, local governments will chip in $800,000 for their share, which will be dedicated for "enhancements" to the new bridge, including "decorative or architectural railings, lighting and concrete enhancements, and similar aesthetic improvements." It's hard to say how much demolition of the historic bridge will cost, but it probably won't be cheap. Wouldn't it make more sense to take that $800,000 plus the demolition costs and spend it on restoring the old bridge for pedestrian and bicycle use? That would be a far greater "enhancement" to the city of Washington than any fake-historic-ish lamp posts or railings that would be tacked-on to the replacement UCEB.

With the suburban sprawl of St. Louis spreading in this direction, it's clear that the current bridge is a vital transportation link (it carries over 12,000 vehicles per day) that would benefit from a new four-lane replacement. But there's no reason to ditch the old bridge.

Unfortunately, the members of the editorial board at the local newspaper don't seem to care. They appear to be jealous that other Missouri cities have shiny new bridges. "If the funding conditions don't improve," a recent editorial says, "Washington may have the distinction of having the only 100-year-old bridge over a major river in the country!"

Maybe they need to take a close look at the Eads Bridge in St. Louis, a major bridge that's 138 years old and still carrying considerable car and commuter rail traffic. There's nothing inherently wrong with a bridge being "old", especially the Washington Bridge, which is not structurally deficient!

Meadows Road Bridge (Northampton County, Pennsylvania)

Stephanie Brown

"People love it." That's how the Meadows Road Bridge was described last year.

This four-span stone arch bridge, built in 1858, has long been threatened with replacement. The bridge has seen better days: the sufficiency rating was a respectable 48.6 in 2008 but then dropped to 23.9 in 2010. Repairs made by Northampton County, the owner, have allowed the bridge continue carrying traffic, but the repairs made over the years have detracted from the bridge. Damaged portions of the stonework were patched with ugly concrete, and tie roads (with manhole covers at the ends) were installed to stabilize the arch walls.

As a result of the repairs, the Pennsylvania historic bridge inventory concluded that the bridge "is not a good example of period workmanship. Its setting does not maintain its historic character. Neither the bridge nor its setting are historically or technologically significant."

Nathan Holth makes a strong case for why this assessment is ridculous, arguing that the "majority of original bridge materials remain on the bridge, and the stone arches themselves appear to be original and they appear to retain their original design." He also points out that the same kind of criteria is never applied to covered bridges, which are often significantly altered over the years.

The bridge is a rarity, even in a state with an abundance of stone arches. It's not exactly like we can find four-span antebellum stone arch bridges around every corner. Thankfully, local officials do consider the bridge to be an historic landmark, agreeing to install a historic marker next to the bridge in 2008 and listing the bridge as a historic site on the township website.

Stephanie Brown, who nominated the bridge, has been pushing to see it saved. She writes, "With the cooperation of all interested parties, including Northampton County, Lower Saucon Township and the Saucon Valley Conservancy, this structure can be around for many more generations to enjoy, and serve a useful purpose both in the modern world as a usable structure and a connection to the past."

Danville-Mickles Bowstring Bridge (Yell County, Arkansas)

Wayne Kizziar

In 2006, I received a curious email from Charles Bowden. He said he had heard through the grapevine about a "derelict iron bowstring truss bridge that has long been forgotten." He then emphasized, "IT IS NOT THE SPRINGFIELD BRIDGE," referring to the only other known Arkansas bowstring.

I forwarded his photos to Robert Scoggin at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. He immediately responded in excitement: "Another bowstring in Arkansas is probably the biggest thing to hit the historic bridge community in a long time." By the following year, the bridge was listed on the National Register and documented by the Historic American Engineering Record.

Meanwhile, J. Randall Houp of Yell County had also stumbled across the bridge early in 2006. He found that the bridge had been originally built at Danville in 1880 by the King Iron Bridge Co. and later moved to its current location. He is now working hard to find a way to move the bridge back to its former location in Danville and restore it to the glory befitting the second-oldest remaining bridge in Arkansas.

Neosho River K-47 Bridge (Neosho County, Kansas)

Robert Elder

Kansas and Nebraska have a small collection of small-scale cantilever truss bridges, which I've temporarily dubbed "Kansas cantilevers" until somebody can find a better name. Three remain in Kansas and one remains in Nebraska.

The Kansas Department of Transportation has been pushing hard in recent years to replace truss bridges on state highways. One of the next victims appears to be this 1937 cantilever in Neosho County, which could be demolished as early as this year. The bridge is not considered structurally deficient, and could easily be bypassed and allowed the remain standing.

A nearby cantilever bridge has been (for now) allowed to remain standing after a replacement span was built, but it's not clear if that bridge's stay of execution is permanent. Even if the other bridge is preserved, the K-47 bridge is older and has more ornate overhead bracing, making it a worthwhile candidate for preservation as well.

Cedar Grove Bridge (Franklin County, Indiana)

Tony Dillon

"It is a spooky beautiful bridge; to see it blown up and carted off brings tears to my eyes..."

Those are the words of Gary A. Schlueter about this abandoned two-span Camelback through truss.

The bridge, formerly carrying Indiana Highway 1, is caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Indiana Department of Transportation and Franklin County. At issue isn't just maintenance of the bridge, but also maintenance of a landslide-prone road on the opposite side of the river that currently provides the only access to the neighborhood.

INDOT wants to demolish the bridge, but there is local support for preserving it, either by rehabilitating and reopening it to traffic or by converting it to pedestrian use. (Relocating the two 180-ft. spans for adaptive reuse isn't very practical.)

A decision on the future of this bridge could be decided as early as this Wednesday (Feb. 15), when the Indiana Historic Preservation Review Board will consider an application by INDOT to demolish this National Register eligible bridge.

We know that they are capable of making the right call here.

Meridian Street Bridge (Pierce County, Washington)

K.A. Erickson

The demolition of the Liberty Memorial Bridge at Bismarck, North Dakota, was a tremendous loss, the only known bridge built using C.A.P. Turner's patented truss design.

Or maybe not. The Meridian Street Bridge at Puyallup, Washington, features a design matching Turner's patent. When K.A. Erickson posted photos of this bridge in 2010, it was clear that this was something special, providing a second chance to preserve a Turner truss.

Unfortunately, the Washington State Department of Transportation wants to quickly replace and demolish this bridge. The bridge currently carries two lanes of northbound traffic on a busy highway and is considered structurally deficient.

The nearby McMillin Bridge, a one-of-a-kind concrete through truss (and a TRUSS Award winner last year), has received the most attention. And rightfully so. But the Meridian Street Bridge is also a one-of-a-kind bridge that is just as important to preserve.

Bolivia Road Bridge (Sangamon and Christian counties, Illinois)

Dale Travis

I remember seeing the Illinois state highway map in 2001 with the photo of a classic truss bridge on the cover. Wanting to know the bridge's identity, I flipped over to find the caption and was disappointed to find that it referred to the bridge in past tense: "This historic bridge crossed the Sangamon River near Bolivia in eastern Sangamon County."

The bridge is still standing -- but could slip into past tense any time. Sangamon County has been trying to replace this Parker through truss since 2001 but has been stymied by funding problems. Eventually, however, they will find the money to replace this landmark with a UCEB.

Landmarks Illinois selected the bridge as one of Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois for 2011. Their announcement warns of the risk of closure or replacement, but ends on a positive note: "The Sangamon County Historic Preservation Commission has recently worked with the Sangamon County Highway Department to find a recreational use for the bridge. The two entities are gaining assistance from IDOT and the state Department of Natural Resources toward this effort."

Cascade Bridge (Des Moines County, Iowa)

HAER photo

I was surprised when I saw a nomination for this bridge. I had figured that this bridge in Burlington, Iowa, which has been closed to traffic since 2008, would have been replaced by now.

As it turns out, the State Historic Preservation Office has thrown cold water on the city's plan to convert this National Register-listed bridge into a UCEB. They want the city to re-consider the feasibility of repairing, instead of replacing, the bridge.

Built in 1896, this pin-connected Baltimore deck truss is a rare jewel. The state historic bridge inventory called it "one of Iowa's most significant and unusual urban bridges."

It's good to see that state officials are looking at the historic significance of this bridge instead of just rubber-stamping yet another demolition project. Let's hope there's still a chance for this bridge to be saved.

Newport Bridge (Jackson County, Arkansas)

AHTD

As shown by this list of award winners, large cantilever truss bridges are an endangered species. The good news is that Arkansas has a decent shot at saving one of them.

During the early 1930s, Arkansas built three massive toll bridges over the White River at Augusta, Clarendon, and Newport. The Augusta Bridge was replaced in 2001. Construction on a new bridge at Clarendon is underway. And now the Newport Bridge is scheduled for replacement.

In December, the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department offered to transfer ownership of the bridge to Newport, allowing the city to preserve it as a walking/bicycling trail once the new bridge is open. The estimated cost of demolishing the bridge would instead be reimbursed to the city to help pay for preserving it.

Many cities would scoff at the idea, paranoid of the extra liability or unwilling to commit to maintaining such a large structure. As I frequently argue, these fears are usually overblown. Thankfully, the mayor and city council of Newport are on board with saving the bridge.

This is by no means a sure thing, but the future for the Newport Bridge looks promising.

CStPM&O Bridge (Eau Claire County, Wisconsin)

Kent Findley

I did a double-take when I first saw photos of this bridge on the former Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway. It's obviously a lattice deck truss -- not exactly a common design -- but this isn't a typical lattice. It's a quintuple-intersection Warren (I re-counted a couple of times to be sure). This website only has one other such design listed (in Pennsylvania) and that's a single-span through truss instead of four-span deck truss.

No longer serving any purpose for its former owner, the Union Pacific Railroad, the bridge sat abandoned and was threatened with demolition. Thankfully, a utility company still mantains an active gas line across the bridge, providing a justification to allow the massive structure to remain standing. Details are sketchy, but the city apparently intends to renovate the bridge for pedestrian use this summer.

Let's hope the city is able to successfully preserve this unique and nationally significant bridge.

Black Bridge (Albany County, New York)

I wasn't aware this bridge existed until it was nominated. It's a multiple-span lattice truss, quite a glaring omission.

The nominator presented good news and bad news about the bridge in Cohoes, New York. Work was just getting started to rehabilitate this long-abandoned railroad bridge into a pedestrian/bicycle trail. Sadly, Cohoes resident Warren Belcher tried crossing the bridge on New Year's Eve, slipping and falling to his death.

As a result, a lengthy petition has been circulating demanding that the bridge be demolished. The mayor has stood firm, arguing that "We're not going to get federal and state grants to demolish an old bridge."

That's the right call. Once the bridge is repaired, with new railings and deck, the risk of injury will be no worse than any other bridge. Mr. Warren was reportedly an explorer by nature, and it wouldn't be much of a tribute to him to demolish the bridge and leave behind an empty hole.

Murray Bridge (Humboldt County, Iowa)

Jason Smith

I always get nervous when I see an inspection report that rates the supersturcture of a truss bridge as "serious." That's the case at the Murray Bridge in rural Iowa. It remains open -- barely -- following a car collision in 2004. This means, of course, that it could be turned into bulldozer bait at any time.

The Murray Bridge is a classic Pratt through truss built in 1905 by A.H. Austin, a regionally significant builder. The most notable feature is the ornate "star" pattern cut out of the heel bracing.

Carrying only an estimated 40 vehicles per day, it doesn't make sense to replace this bridge with a multi-million dollar UCEB, a situation that has become all too common. No matter what happens, this beauty would make for a nice adaptive-reuse project.

Hulton Bridge (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania)

Brian McKee

The Hulton Bridge on the outskirts of Pittsburgh is an object lesson in frustration. Not just because PennDOT wants to replace it -- what else is new? -- but because of the geography. Upriver from this congested two-lane bridge is a new six-lane crossing on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Unfortunately, the turnpike doesn't have an interchange on the Hulton side of the river, forcing a huge volume of traffic to squeeze on the Hulton Bridge to get anywhere. Moreover, the Hulton Bridge is the only surface-street crossing along a 12 mile stretch of the Allegheny River in a densely populated area.

With these frustrating constraints, it makes sense to build a new bridge at Hulton. But why does the old bridge need to be demolished? Todd Wilson at Bridgemapper.com has been posing that question to anybody who will listen. He worked with students at Carnegie Mellon University to put together a comprehensive proposal to convert the bridge to pedestrian/bicycle use once the new bridge is built.

The odds don't look good, but the Hulton Bridge -- with its magnificent 500-ft Pennsylvania truss -- is well worth fighting for.

Sixth Street Bridge (Los Angeles County, California)

HAER photo

The Golden Gate Bridge is California's most famous bridge, but I would argue that the Sixth Street Bridge is almost as recognizable, even if people don't know the name. This bridge near downtown Los Angeles is a staple of TV commercials, TV shows, music videos, and movies. If you watch a car commercial with a car cruising across an arch bridge with a big city skyline in the background, there's a good chance it's the Sixth Street Bridge.

One company located next to the bridge provides a "base camp" for TV and movie productions that want to film on location at the bridge. Their website lists some of the productions that have included the bridge over the years. They don't mention one of the more dramatic scenes: the 2007 season finale of "Numb3rs" in which the antagonist tries to blow up the bridge, and in which the bridge's arch design becomes an important plot point.

I seriously doubt that the directors of car commercials and TV shows are going to be happy filming on a modern replacement bridge, but that's what the future currently holds. It's hard to imagine a crime drama where the bad guys want to blow up a UCEB. Nobody will care!

The historic bridge, sadly, is suffering from serious concrete deterioration. While it's not considered structurally deficient yet, the bridge is in poor health and likely wouldn't withstand a major earthquake. As a result, the city fathers are hell-bent on replacing it with a modern cable-stayed bridge that is utterly different -- and uninspired.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been more outrage from the TV and movie industry about destroying this bridge, or a movement to force the city to build a replacement that is closer in spirit to the original. As things stand, if TV and movie directors want to film on location at a photogenic Sixth Street Bridge, they will soon have to go to Pittsburgh instead.

Tappan Zee Bridge (Rockland and Westchester counties, New York)

Ian Ligget

With great risk comes great reward, according to the old saying. The proposal to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge presents a monumental challenge, but also a spectacular payoff.

Featuring the ninth-longest cantilever span in the world (1,212 ft.) and a total length of three miles (with approaches), this is quite a landmark. As a critical crossing on the New York Thruway, the bridge carries a tremendous volume of traffic: over 130,000 vehicles per day. To alleviate this bottleneck, the state wants to replace the Tappan Zee with two new parallel structures and then demolish the old bridge.

When the old bridge was consturcted during the 1950s, it cost $81 million to build. Estimates for the replacement bridge put the cost at over $5 billion -- and that's the low-budget option without any mass transit options.

The exact design for the new bridge hasn't been determined, but the preliminary concepts are not encouraging, suggesting this could be the Mother Of All UCEBs. A recent op/ed column takes the state to task, arguing that this "is not a bridge at all, but a 10-lane highway that happens to go over water." The columnists add, "Bridges should inspire visitors and enhance their surroundings. But this crossing will only detract from the stunning towns and landscapes it blasts through.

While the proposed new spans will be built north of the current bridge, the approaches will overlap, providing a convenient excuse to require demolishing the old bridge.

Nevertheless, some in the region have called for the old bridge to be preserved as a pedestrian/bicycle walkway, modeled after the highly successful Walkway Over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie and the High Line in New York City. An organization called the Tappan Zee Bridge Alliance is pushing to save the bridge, championing the idea of "Reinventing with vision, not demolition."

To make this happen, the replacement will need to be redesigned to spare the approaches to the bridge. In addition, funding will need to be found to continue maintaining the bridge in the future, a difficult prospect.

We can all dream, however, and if this thing can be successful, it will be a world-class success.

Honorable Mentions for 2012

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

I've spent the last week sorting through nominations for the TRUSS Awards (Top Ranked Unique Savable Structures). It's been tough: there's so many bridges that are endangered, and so many bridges that would be viable candidates for rehabilitation or adaptive reuse.

Some of last year's winners were re-nominated again this year. These are all important projects, but I decided to exclude them from winning again in order to make room for other bridges. Meanwhile, most of last year's honorable mentions are now facing an even greater threat of demolition, so I did consider them.

I had originally planned to pick 12 winners, but after changing and re-arranging the list several times, I decided to expand this to 15. And even that's not really enough.

Here are the bridges that didn't make the cut. These honorable mentions are still worthwhile bridges that should be saved:

Ellsworth Ranch Bridge (Emmet County, Iowa)

This peculiar pin-connected Pratt/Warren through truss is abandoned and would make an excellent adaptive reuse project.

White Sand Creek Bridge (Lawrence County, Mississippi)

A small Warren pony truss, this bridge stands along a well-preserved stretch of the River Road, a pioneer-era thoroughfare that is listed on the National Register.

Arkadelphia Bridge (Clark County, Arkansas)

Slated for replacement, this Parker truss was offered for adaptive reuse without any takers. However, this bridge has already been relocated once (in 1960), so there's no reason why this couldn't be done again.

Rock Lick Creek Bridge (Breckinridge County, Kentucky)

This bowstring, probably built by the King Iron Bridge Co., is closed to traffic, but remains in decent condition. It's located near another bowstring, the Greens Farm Mill Bridge, that has been preserved for pedestrian use.

Bruns' Bridge (Franklin County, Missouri)

Built in 1888 by the King Bridge Co., this 194-ft high Pratt truss is quite a sight. It's a popular hangout, but the deck will soon deteriorate to the point where it is no longer be safe to walk on the bridge.

Fort Ritner Bridge (Lawrence and Washington counties, Indiana)

It's pin-connected, it was built in 1895, it has two large spans, and it has ornate portal bracing. And yet that still isn't enough to prevent this bridge from being labeled "Non-Select" and placed at risk for replacement.

West Division Street Bridge (Will County, Illinois)

At first glance, this seems like an obvious choice for a hiking trail: a well-preserved truss bridge sitting next to a nature preserve. However, the land is controlled by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and they probably aren't too interested in historic preservation or public recreation.

Champ Clark Bridge (Pike County, Missouri)

Located in the scenic town of Louisiana, Missouri, this massive multiple-span Pennsylvania truss is photogenic from any angle. Now that Missouri has demolished most of the classic truss bridges over the Missouri River, MoDOT has now set its sights on replacing this Mississippi River bridge.

Mahned Bridge (Perry County, Mississippi)

Featuring a 220-ft Camelback truss, this is an impressive wagon bridge near Hattiesburg that is abandoned with the deck removed. This National Register listed bridge has been closed for several years and does not appear to be in danger of replacement, but it does have a notorious reputation.

Little Osage River Bridge (Bourbon County, Kansas)

Built in 1896 by the Wrought Iron Bridge Co., this Pratt truss is unusually tall. It's still open to traffic, but the superstructure is rated as "poor", suggesting that it could be closed in the near future.

Mill Creek Bridge (Bourbon County, Kansas)

Located in Fort Scott, this abandoned Pratt truss appears to date from before 1900. It's in relatively good condition -- except for the trees that are encroaching on the truss.

Chambers Ford Bridge (Tama County, Iowa)

It appears that arsonists have struck this closed bridge, setting fire to portions of the wooden deck. That shouldn't be an excuse to give up and demolish this 1890 bridge.

San Gabriel River Bridge (Williamson County, Texas)

This Camelback and Pratt truss bridge is abandoned and bypassed, putting it at risk for continued deterioration.

Salt Fork Red River Bridge (Collingsworth County, Texas)

Collingsworth County has a pair of multiple-span Parker trusses over Salt Fork. One of these, on US 83, is on the verge of being demolished. This bridge, on State Highway 203, could easily be next on the bulldozer list.

Kennebec River Bridge (Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties, Maine)

This multiple-span through truss with a swing draw span is slated to be replaced.

Salisbury Bridge (Meeker County, Minnesota)

It's the usual story: somebody driving an SUV crashes into a truss bridge, causing serious damage. In this case, however, the county government is working to secure a grant to rehabilitate -- and not replace -- the bridge.

The mess at Eggner's Ferry Bridge

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

The previous 12 months have not been good for major bridges in Kentucky:

Last January, the Mississippi River Bridge at Cairo, Illinois, was closed to traffic after truck drivers ignored an emergency reduction in the weight limit (the bridge doesn't quite touch Kentucky, but is an important route for traffic between Kentucky and Missouri). The bridge is undergoing repairs but remains closed at this time.
In September, the Shermin Minton Bridge at Louisville was unexpectedly closed after failing an inspection. It, too, is undergoing repairs but is still closed.
Earlier this month, the Ledbetter Bridge (Clark Memorial Bridge) near Paducah had its weight limit reduced to only 3 tons. Law enforcement officers are now patrolling the bridge almost non-stop to prevent truck drivers from crossing. The alternative is to shut down the bridge to all traffic, just like at Cairo. (What I can't figure out is why Illinois and Kentucky won't install "headache bars" on the approaches to these bridges to prevent tall vehicles from crossing, which would effectively keep away overweight trucks at almost no cost or effort.)
And now, of course, the Eggner's Ferry Bridge at Kentucky Lake was shut down in spectacular fashion on Jan. 26 as a large cargo ship slammed into one of the spans.

I visited Eggner's Ferry Bridge today, approaching from the western side at Kenlake State Resort Park. The park offers ample parking and several overlooks of the lake and bridge.

It's quite a spectacle:

The ship went under the wrong span (the second truss from the east). This span is not as high as the main channel span (second from the west). In the collision between the ship and the bridge, the ship easily won, crumpling the 322-feet Parker truss like a wad of paper.

With the ship anchored in place, the wreckage of the truss is now draped on the vessel's bow.

Bridge inspectors have tentatively declared that the western spans are stable, with commercial boat traffic allowed to resume passing under the main channel span. However, the eastern span (a smaller Pratt truss) has been labeled as "possibly unstable", with evidence suggesting that the pier has shifted -- or perhaps continues to shift. It also appears, at least through a telephoto lens, that cracks have formed in the concrete.

Pre-construction work is already underway on the bridge's replacement (a "basket-handle arch" design), but construction wasn't expected to finish until 2016 or 2017. I'm sure that schedule will be accelerated, but a major construction project can only proceed so quickly.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet hasn't ruled out trying to repair the existing structure, but it's going to be tough. First, the 322 ft. gap will need to be filled by a temporary span (perhaps some kind of Bailey truss). That's a lot of distance to cross. It's also likely that at least one pier and the smaller truss span on the east side will need to be replaced or shored up. If feasible, I'd say that repairing the bridge is worth the effort, but I suspect a certain number of local drivers will be terrified to cross the repaired bridge and would rather take a lengthy detour.

Unfortunately, some of the media coverage seems to be clinging to the usual narrative that this "aging" bridge suffered a "collapse." This wasn't a collapse at all: it was a collision caused by an errant ship. The bridge was built in 1932, but it was not considered structurally deficient according to an inspection in Aug. 2010. A large ship veering off course by almost 1,000 feet would be enough to tear apart even a brand new bridge. Indeed, a simple truss bridge, where each span is largely independent of the others, is one of the better designs to handle this kind of collision. Sadly, this incident will likely provide yet another excuse to replace historic bridges with mundane replacements that are shiny and new -- but never 100% accident-proof.

Site notes: Photo uploads hopefully fixed; NBI 2011 released

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

I think I've tracked down the source of the sporadic problems with photo uploads. A couple people had trouble uploading photos for their TRUSS Awards nominations, so I've extended the deadline for nominations until Jan. 31. Like last year, the sheer number of entries will make it hard to choose the winners.

In other news, the Federal Highway Administration has released the 2011 edition of the National Bridge Inventory. They've made two versions available: the old fixed-width ASCII format and a new comma-delimited format. The old format can be processed using my OVERPASS program. I haven't tackled trying to read the new format. Unfortunately, it appears that the wrong ZIP file containing all of the states was uploaded (it's the new format even though it's labeled as the old format). I had to download all of the states separately.

I've uploaded the new inspection data throughout the website. The next challenge is tracking down those bridges that appeared in the 2010 edition, but disappeared in the 2011 edition -- this means they were probably demolished.

Send your nominations for 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

With the arrival of the new year, Bridgehunter.com is now accepting nominations for the 2012 TRUSS Awards (Top Ranked Unique Savable Structures). This award honors bridges that are threatened with demolition, but would make the most excellent preservation projects. To nominate a bridge, go to the page for that bridge and click the yellow "Nominate" button near the top. You can also nominate an unlisted bridge by going to this page. Nominations will be accepted for three weeks through Jan. 22, 2012.

I have good news and bad news about last year's TRUSS Award winners. From what I can tell, none of the bridges were demolished. But none of them were saved, either, and all remain in limbo. Here's the list with the current status of each:

Beatty Road Bridge (Morrow County, Ohio) - Closed after failing inspection in August
Independence Bowstring (Verdigris River) Bridge - Abandoned
Long Shoals Bridge (Bourbon County, Kansas) - Abandoned
McMillin Bridge (Pierce County, Washington) - Open
Mead Avenue Bridge (Crawford County, Pennsylvania) - Closed
Meramec River US 66 Bridge (St. Louis County, Missouri) - Closed
Mitchell River Bridge (Barnstable County, Massachusetts) - Open
Nachitoch Bluff Bridge (Clark County, Arkansas) - Abandoned
Panther Creek Bridge (Miami County, Ohio) - Open on a private driveway
Riverside Bridge (Christian County, Missouri) - Closed
Springfield Bridge (Faulkner County, Arkansas) - Abandoned
Wagon Wheel Bridge (Boone County, Iowa) - Closed

Sadly, a large number of other bridges were lost in 2011. Our list of bridges demolished last year totals 145, and that list is certainly far from complete.

The year brought a shocking number of natural disasters to the United States. Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee were bad news for covered bridges as flooding unleashed by these storms destroyed Blenheim Bridge (New York), Bartonsville Covered Bridge (Vermont), Seigrist's Mill Covered Bridge (Pennsylvania), and many others.

Spring flooding caused extensive problems on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, at one point forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to intentionally breach a levee in Missouri, causing one bridge to be wiped out in dramatic fashion. Flooding also caused the partial collapse of the Ninth Street Seven Arch Stone Bridge in Illinois; the bridge was later demolished.

Fryer Ford Bridge in Arkansas succumbed to a different kind of disaster: a careless truck driver disobeying the posted weight limit.

As we've been dreading for some time, 2011 was the final year for several notable bridges, including:

Charleroi-Monessen Bridge (Pennsylvania)
Bridgeport Bridge (Ohio-West Virginia)
Mount Carmel Bridge (Illinois-Indiana)
Paseo Bridge (Missouri)
Airport Highway Bridge (Tennessee)
Buechter Bridge (Miller County, Missouri)
Norridgewock Bridge (Somerset County, Maine)
Manette Bridge (Kitsap County, Washington)

Last year also brought surprise demolitions that were unnecessary:

Bono Bridge (Craighead County, Arkansas)
Old KY 169 Bridge (Jessamine County, Kentucky)
Bluff Hall Bridge (Adams County, Illinois)

On the bright side, 2011 brought some success stories, even in Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Mill Mountain Road Bridge (Luzerne County, Pennsylvania) - The Times Leader newspaper explains it best: "Some Luzerne County employees saved taxpayers more than a million dollars by redoing a historic bridge on their own, rather than hiring outside companies to design and build a new one."
Pine Creek Bridge (Lycoming County, Pennsylvania) - This spectacular Warren Lenticular truss was dismantled in 2008, repaired, and finally reassembled in 2011
Lake Taneycomo Bridge (Taney County, Missouri) - Located at downtown Branson, Missouri, this arch bridge was twinned by a parallel span and then rehabilitated to carry one-way traffic
Rock Island Bridge (Pulaski County, Arkansas) - After a long wait, this former railroad bridge opened to pedestrians this year as part of the Clinton Presidential Library grounds
Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge (Lane County, Oregon) - At one time in immediate danger of collapse, this covered bridge was rebuilt at a new location for pedestrians
Glover Cary Bridge (Daviess County, Kentucky) - Owensboro celebrated the rehabilitation and reopening of its Ohio River bridge with a special day allowing people to walk across the bridge
West Bureau Creek Bridge (Bureau County, Illinois) - In the most surprising story of the year, Illinois replaced a UCEB with a historic through truss bridge relocated from elsewhere

Here's to hoping that we will see more success stories in 2012.

Two more important upgrades

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

I hope everybody is enjoying the holidays! During my Christmas vacation, I've been spending some quality time adding new features to the website.

Photo license tracking

To help prevent copyright violations and to keep the lawyers at bay, I've added a field to the database to keep track of the copyright license (if any) attached to each photo.

For photos that you've taken, you can decide what license to offer them under. This could be a standard "All rights reserved" position in which you grant permission for visitors to see your photos, but that's about it. You can also choose "Public domain" (renouncing your copyright and allowing anybody to use the photo in any way) or one of the "Creative Commons" licenses (which give various levels of permission for re-using the photo). If in doubt, just use the default "All rights reserved."

For photos that you've obtained from elsewhere, you must specify how they were obtained. If you have permission from the photographer/copyright holder, select "Have permission." If you found the photo on Flickr, Wikipedia, or another website with a Creative Commons license, then choose the applicable C.C. license version -- but be sure to follow their rules carefully, especially about providing attribution. For photos that are out of copyright or were produced by a Federal agency or program (such as HABS/HAER), then you can select "public domain." In some limited cases, you may be able to use a photo under "fair use", but first make sure you understand what that means before using this exception.

This isn't as bad as it sounds. When uploading or importing photos, you can choose the license for each photo from a drop-down menu. To make things easier, you can select the license (and credit line) for the first photo, and apply that to all of the other photos by clicking the little red arrows on the right. For photos that you've taken, it's safe to keep "All rights reserved" and not worry about this.

Expanded design types

I've always been puzzled why the various kinds of Pratt trusses (Parker, Camelback, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Whipple, etc.) have their own distinctive names, but Warren trusses are just called Warren trusses regardless of variation. To better keep track of Warren truss bridges, especially the more exotic designs, I've expanded the list of available design types:

Warren through truss
- Warren through truss with no verticals
- Warren through truss with all verticals
- Warren through truss with alternating verticals
- Warren through truss with sub-panels
Polygonal Warren through truss
- Polygonal Warren through truss with no verticals
- Polygonal Warren through truss with all verticals
- Polygonal Warren through truss with alternating verticals
- Polygonal Warren through truss with sub-panels
Lattice through truss
- Triple-intersection lattice through truss
- Quadrangular lattice through truss
- Quintangular lattice through truss
- Town lattice through truss

(I've added similar subtypes for pony and deck trusses as appropriate.)

These should be fairly self-explanatory. The Warren with no verticals is the most elegant, featuring the "W" diagonals of a Warren without any vertical members in between:

The Warren with all verticals features a vertical member at all possible panel points:

A Warren with alternating verticals sounds complicated, but this just means that the truss has two diagonals in between vertical members. This is a common arrangement for pony trusses:

The Warren with sub-panels is a hybrid between a Warren truss and a Pennsylvania truss, where the panels have intermediate verticals and struts to help support the floorbeams. In the past I've called this a "Subdivided Warren", but that term is somewhat ambiguous.

I've also expanded the various Lattice truss types (which are, in essence, a bunch of Warren trusses superimposed on each other). The Quadrangular (also called Quadrilateral or Quadruple-intersection) is the most common lattice truss for metal bridges, enjoying brief popularity for railroad spans. The members intersect other members four times (photo by Steve Conro):

The elusive Triple-intersection lattice follows the same principle, but the members only intersect three times. These are mostly found in Kansas:

Pennsylvania includes one known Quintangular lattice in which the members intersect five times. This must be one of the more complicated truss ever built (photo from HAER):

I've also included the Town Lattice truss used for covered bridges. The number of intersections in a Town lattice truss can vary, but I've never seen any covered bridge guide try to make a distinction.

BONUS: To accommodate some other exotic bridge designs that have been spotted lately, I've created categories for these types:

Scissors deck truss (one known extant example in California)
Canticrete deck truss (a weird kind of arch-truss embedded in concrete, invented by John B. Leonard and seen in California)
Hammond through truss (a Pratt truss where the diagonal counters cross two panels, kind of like a Whipple truss, name coined by Historicbridges.org)

On This Date in 1967

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, that crossed the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Kanauga, Ohio, collapsed during afternoon rush hour, killing 46 people. The eyebar suspension bridge opened in 1928. A similar bridge, upriver in St. Mary's, was immediately closed and demolished in 1971.

As a result of the tragedy, the NBIS was initiated, mandating that all bridges in the United States, longer than 20 feet, be inspected every two years.

Adding to the mystique of the region is "The Mothman Prophesies." Legend has it that the mysterious Mothman foretold the collapse. The Mothman Prophecies is a 1975 book by John Keel that was the basis of a 2002 movie of the same name.

For more about the collapse, see the listing for the Silver Bridge.

More site upgrades

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

With the arrival of ugly winter weather, I've had time for more website improvements:

New tool for adding categories

I've added a new admin feature for adding/removing categories associated with a bridge. Look for the yellow "Categories" button on each bridge page, or click the appropriate button to jump to it after adding or editing a bridge.

You can add categories either by dragging-and-dropping (or double-clicking) suggested categories in red, or by typing in a category name in the box. The system provides auto-completion, so you don't have to guess the proper spelling and capitalization for the category name. If you try to add a category that hasn't been created yet, the system will give you a warning so that you don't inadvertantly create a duplicate category.

To remove a category, drag-and-drop (or double-click) one of the green boxes. Changes take effect immediately (you don't have to save changes), although you have the option of adding a note to the Update Log using the box at the bottom of the page.

Review county boundaries

When adding or editing a bridge, there's now an option to "Show county lines" on the Google map. The bridge's selected county will be highlighted in red, while adjacent counties will appear in blue. This gives you the chance to double-check whether the bridge is placed in the right county, or to see whether the bridge crosses a county or state line.

Rotate photos

If a photo is uploaded sideways, it's now possible to correct the problem by clicking the yellow "Edit this photo" link next to the photo and then using the "Rotate left" and "Rotate right" buttons.

The Ammann Award Winners for 2011 and the Bridgehunter's Chronicles Pics for 2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

The results are out! The Bridgehunter's Chronicles has announced the winners of the Ammann Awards for 2011, the first awards devoted to historic bridges and ways to preserve them. In addition, the Chronicles also has the most striking pics for 2011. All the information and pics are found via link here: http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2011/12/02/ammann-award-results-for-2011/

The author would like to thank the photo candidates and those who voted for the best photos. The bridge candidates should take pride in the job well done in preserving bridges. As for the steel thieves......

National Historic Bridge Month 2011

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

November is National Historic Bridges Month. And for the first time ever, the Bridgehunter�s Chronicles will be awarding the Othmar H. Ammann Award for Excellence to three candidates for their roles in historic bridge preservation and bridge engineering. It will consist of three categories: The Lifetime Legacy Award to the person who has had an enormous impact over the course of many years, the Best Kept Secret Award to the person or group with the best example of historic bridge preservation, and the Best Snapshot Award to the candidate with the best photo of a bridge in general. Entries are being taken between now and 25 November, with the winners announced on 2 December. The winners will be interviewed by the Bridgehunter�s Chronicles (which will be posted) and receive a Certificate of Excellence Award. If you know of a candidate who has made an impact on the historic bridges community, please send his/her name via e-mail to Jason Smith (JDSmith77@gmx.net) before 25 November at 12:00am Central Standard Time. It is open to all candidates in the US and internationally. Minus the photo entries which you can do yourself, nominating yourself for the other two awards is prohibited; photos of the candidates must be of one�s own work and not that of another�s.

The Award is named after the Swiss-American engineer who designed and led the construction of over a dozen bridges in New York City as well as many others in eastern US and his home country of Switzerland. Among those included are the George Washington Bridge (1939) and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (1964), both located in New York City. The latter was the last of his engineering work (as he died eight months after it was open to traffic) and was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1981 and still is the longest in the USA today.

Pics for 2011: Also a first this year is the Bridgehunter�s Chronicles� Pics of the Year. It will be divided up into the following examples- Best example of historic bridge reuse, worst example of historic bridge reuse, the best effort to saving the bridge, the salvageable mentioned, the worst reason to destroy a bridge, the best find of a historic bridge and the biggest bonehead story. You have until the 25th of November at 12:00am Central Standard Time to submit your candidate(s) to Jason Smith (JDSmith77@gmx.net), who will announce the winner and the honorably mentioned on 2 December.

The Bridgehunter's Chronicles will provide some stories about historic bridge preservation during the months of November and December, which will be posted here. Stay tuned.

Assorted site updates

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

Here are some improvements I've made lately:

Related bridges: I've added a section to each bridge page for showing "related" bridges. For example, if one bridge replaced another one, that relationship can be shown, with links from one to the other. Look for the "Add related bridge" admin links to create these relationships.
Search engine: Keyword searches will now look for the entire phrase, instead of just matching any of the words. If you prefer the old method, you can go to the Search page and check the "Match any word" box.
Facts and figures: The new Website Statistics shows a quick summary of the bridges that are posted to the site, broken down by status and design.
Random county: In addition to the Random Bridge link, you can try out the Random County link to explore another part of the country.
To-do list: The To-do pages has been expanded to include more bridges that need attention, including those bridges that have had a sudden jump in their sufficiency rating, which usually means they've been replaced by UCEBs.

What new features would you like to see?

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

I've been rather distracted lately, mostly because of this. With that out of the way, I'm planning on making some upgrades to the site.

Some items on the drawing board include:

Mobile-optimized version
Improved search engine
Better tool for uploading multiple photos at a time
Method to attach PDFs and other documents to bridge pages and essays
Way to tag photos
Form for submitting news items
Expanded forum system

Anything else? What upgrades do you feel are the most important?

Idiots with cutting torches

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST

Last week brought the sensational news that thieves successfully stole an entire 50 foot long steel bridge in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.

Sadly, this wasn't a freak incident. This week, scrap metal thieves have reportedly struck bridges in Mississippi, removing the support pilings from multiple bridges in Chickasaw County. This is a more ominous development, as any of these damaged bridges could collapse under the weight of the next unsuspecting driver that comes along.

Hopefully this outbreak of bridge thefts will stop once the idiots with the cutting torches realize that scrap steel prices aren't that lucrative.

The party at Owensboro

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST

It's depressing to think about all of the significant bridges that have been demolished, or soon will be demolished, thanks to a seeming lack of interest by public officials and local residents toward preservation.

And yet people do like and admire bridges. Take Owensboro, Kentucky, where an estimated 10,000 people enjoyed the opportunity to walk or bike across the "Blue Bridge" over the Ohio River on Friday. Repair work on the bridge, which had closed it to all traffic during the summer, was a few days ahead of schedule, allowing the Kentucky highway department the opportunity to throw open the bridge to pedestrians and bicyclists for a one-day only "Bridge Day."

Despite the impromptu nature of the event -- it was only announced on the Monday before -- massive crowds descended on the bridge. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk across the bridge without dodging cars, making it possible to study this huge cantilever bridge built in 1940.

Actually, it may not be a one-time event after all. The turnout was so overwhelming that the mayor of Owensboro is already discussing turning "Bridge Day" into an annual festival. "I think we've really stumbled onto something here," the mayor said in a newspaper article.

And why not? Owensboro should be able to celebrate the city's success at saving its bridge. So many other cantilever bridges have been demolished to make room for replacement cable-stayed or steel beam bridges. Owensboro does have a modern cable-stayed bridge, but it was built at a location far enough upstream that the Blue Bridge could be retained for local traffic heading to downtown. That was a smart move: the city gets a modern bypass, while the historic bridge can still provide useful service.

I doubt that the turnout would have been so awesome for a UCEB. I hope that other cities and states are paying attention to the pattern established at Owensboro: build a bypass if you must, but keep the historic bridge around to serve as a true "signature" span for the community, one that everybody can enjoy. If you preserve it, they will come.

Louisville update

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST

It all started innocently enough. On Sept. 7, the Indiana Department of Transportation announced lane closures on the Sherman Minton Bridge for bridge inspections.

Little did anybody know that this brief lane closure would herald the indefinite closure of the entire bridge two days later. The Sherman Minton Bridge carries 93,000 vehicles per day on average, or roughly 40% of the total traffic crossing the Ohio River at Louisville. The sudden loss of this bridge has forced commuters to rely on the Kennedy and Clark bridges, creating a "Carmageddon" situation to rival anything out of Los Angeles.

A technical advisory from the Federal Highway Administration explains what happened. The bridge, completed 1961, was built with "T-1 steel" which is susceptible to cracking. Previous inspections had found cracking at some of the welds, prompting more thorough inspections and repair work this year.

The advisory states, "On September 8, 2011, inspectors discovered an additional critical crack in the tension tie that previously could not be seen through visual inspection because of the removal of a connection plate detail as part of the ongoing retrofit process... After study and analysis of this newly found crack, it was determined that an unacceptable level of risk to the traveling public was associated with the continued operation of the bridge."

By the next day, the Governor of Indiana had ordered the bridge closed. Since then, even more cracks have been discovered -- and the inspectors are only half done.

It seems likely that the bridge will remain out of commission for months, even years, and there's a chance it could never reopen.

Meanwhile, drivers stuck in traffic couldn't help but notice that some cars were traveling across the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge, a railroad bridge that includes two roadway decks along the sides. These cars were driven by railroad employees who were granted the perk of using the bridge to get to work.

Historically, the K&I carried highway traffic until the northbound road deck was damaged by an overweight truck in 1979. This damage was never repaired.

If railroad employees could use the bridge, then why not the general public? That's been a hot topic of discussion, spawning a Facebook campaign to have the bridge's road decks repaired and reopened to everybody. At least one local politicians is asking the same question.

The owners of the bridge, Norfolk Southern, are naturally worried about liability and safety. But if the bridge is unsafe, then why let employees use it? Hoping to avoid a PR disaster, the railroad has now announced that it will no longer let employees use the bridge.

In 2005, civic leaders discussed using the K&I Bridge as part of a bicycle/pedestrian trail network, but this idea was vehemently opposed by the railroad.

The K&I Bridge is similar to the Harahan Bridge in Memphis with abandoned road decks along the sides. It was recently discovered, however, that Memphis still owned the road decks. Plans are underway to reopen the Harahan Bridge for pedestrian use -- and the railroad can't stop it. That probably isn't an option for Louisville and the K&I Bridge, unless a sharp lawyer can find an old document showing that the public has a right to use the bridge.

Does the city have any other options? Louisville is working on restoring the Big Four Railroad Bridge for pedestrian/bicycle use, but that project won't be completed until 2013. The only other available bridge, the Falls of the Ohio Railroad Bridge, still actively carries trains. It does have some extra room (one of the two tracks is abandoned), but not enough for any practical use.

Thus, it seems that Louisville is in a real pickle.

Historic Bridge to be Auctioned off

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST

There are historic bridges that have been marketed through the state department of transportation's historic bridge marketing programs, like the ones in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and there are those that were sold directly from one party to another at the price of scrap metal. But what about auctioning off a historic bridge? This small town in Germany is definitely experimenting with this option as a pedestrian bridge spanning a railroad is the target of the German Railroad's plans of expanding and electrifying the rail line, and the town's mayor wants to get rid of the bridge for money. Here's an article by the Bridgehunter's Chronicles with some details on the town's plan to auction it off on eBay:

http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2011/09/16/100-year-old-railroad-bridge-in-vogtland-up-for-auction/

While houses can be auctioned off, auctioning off a whole bridge is an experiment which if successful will provide state DOTs and other local governments an incentive to rid a historic bridge by auctioning it off to someone who will take care of the structure as well as they did. Question is how successful is it to auction a bridge, and what would you use the bridge for if you won the highest bid? Any thoughts from the historic bridge community?

Historic Bridge Conference 2011

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST

Well, another Historic Bridge Conference has come and gone, and for those who missed out on the highlights of the event, here is a link to the article that was written by the Bridgehunter's Chronicles giving you a brief summary of all the events that happened during the weekend of 12-14 August, where all the bridge enthusiasts and experts congregated on the state of Missouri and did a innerstate tour which started in St. Louis, went south to Springfield and ended in Kansas City.

http://thebridgehunter.areavoices.com/2011/09/01/the-3rd-annual-historic-bridge-conference-missouri/

As for the 2012 Conference is concerned, there is some consideration between having it in Iowa or in Indiana as the plan is to have the event in one of the two states in 2012 and the other in 2013. If you have any preferences, you can let James Baughn, Jason Smith or Todd Wilson of Bridgemapper.com know and they will all be taken into consideration, when the decision is made sometime next year.

Historic Bridge Conference 2011

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 PST

Bridgehunter.com, Bridgemapper.com, and The Bridgehunter's Chronicles are partnering to sponsor this year's Historic Bridge Conference. The 2009 and 2010 conferences explored the bridges of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, while this year's event will feature bridges in St. Louis and Missouri.

St. Louis has a long history of bridge building, starting with the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River, a National Historic Landmark. In modern times, St. Louis has been an unsung leader in historic bridge preservation, rehabilitating three major bridges (Eads, McKinley, and Old Chain of Rocks).

However, many other bridges are threatened with demolition or replacement. The Meramec River Bridge on Historic Route 66 has been closed to traffic and is in danger of demolition. In the southwest corner of Missouri, the Riverside Bridge at Ozark, Missouri, has also been threatened. The Historic Bridge Conference includes events at both of these endangered bridges.

Click here for more information

Click here for a flyer

Friday maps and driving directions

Saturday maps and driving directions

If you'd like to participate in all or part of the conference, please contact webmaster James Baughn (email: webmaster [at-symbol] bridgehunter.com)

Riverside Bridge update

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 PST

The Riverside Bridge near Ozark, Missouri, was selected as one of Missouri's Most Endangered Historic Places for 2010. The bridge is still in danger and has now been selected for the same list for 2011. (The Route 66 Bridge at Times Beach was also carried over to this year's list.)

Meanwhile, Kris Dyer has entered the Riverside Bridge in the This Place Matters Community Challenge from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The historic site that receives the most votes will win a very nice grant. Right now the Riverside Bridge is ranked 43 out of 100. To vote for the bridge, please follow this link. You can only vote once and the deadline is June 30.

Extreme Bridgehunting: Pickup Truck Edition

Sat, 28 May 2011 00:00:00 PST

Found this on That Will Buff Out and thought you might also get a smile from it.

see more That Will Buff Out

Stimulus money actually used for historic bridge preservation

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 PST

In a stunning development, it has been revealed that Federal economic stimulus money is being used to rehabilitate the Meridian Bridge at Yankton, South Dakota. The Feds are chipping in $4 million to convert the bridge for pedestrian use.

Yes, it's hard to believe. I thought this was an April Fools Day gag, but it's apparently true. Based on this development, I would strongly recommend bracing for an outbreak of flying pigs. If this trend continues, we could witness the core temperature of Hell dropping below freezing.

Desk clearing time

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Here are a few announcements to clear off my desk:

Eagle Days at Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri, is this weekend (Jan. 15-16). This is a popular event where people can walk out to the middle of the bridge and look for bald eagles through viewing scopes.
Vern Mesler has announced the Second Annual Iron & Steel Preservation Conference, March 7-9, 2010, at Lansing Community College, in Lansing, Michigan. Sounds like a lot of fun.
Eric Sakowski is offering a tour this August of the bridges of China, including 8 bridges that are taller than the Royal Gorge Bridge. This looks pretty intense.
Jason Smith is soliciting contributions (articles and columns) about historic bridges for his Bridgehunter's Chronicles site.

Something a little different

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Now's a good time to take a break from worrying about Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridges and enjoy something different. As part of a clever marketing gimmick, Union Pacific will be taking one of their steam locomotives on an excursion following a route selected by voters.

Right now the "Tuscola Turn" route around Chicago is in first place, but I'm rather partial to the "Little Rock Express" which will likely feature a crossing of the Mississippi River on the Thebes Bridge. In 2004, the UP "Challenger" steam locomotive came to Thebes, and it was quite a sight.

It looks like all four possible routes would feature photo opps of the locomotive crossing historic bridges. So be sure to vote early and vote often for your favorite route (hint: Little Rock Express).

Update Jan. 16: With just two days left, the voting is neck-and-neck between the "Little Rock Express" and "Tuscola Turn" routes.

Some 2010 success stories

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Let's face it: Last year was a bad one for historic bridges. Thanks to stimulus funding, many bridges were demolished to make room for shiny new UCEBs. These "shovel ready" projects could just as easily have been called "bulldozer ready." Meanwhile, floods and other disasters wiped out numerous bridges in Tennessee, Iowa, and elsewhere.

Nevertheless, 2010 didn't bring all bad news, as some historic bridges were rehabilitated and (gasp!) given new paint jobs. Even everybody's favorite highway department, PennDOT, notched a couple of successful historic bridge projects -- and we're not talking about covered bridges!

Here is a rundown of successful projects completed in 2010. (Sorry if I missed any obvious examples.)

Hays Street Bridge (Bexar County, Texas)

Photo taken by Markus Haas in July 2010

This Texas-sized project converted a two-span through truss (featuring a Whipple truss with Phoenix columns) into a pedestrian/bicycling trail. Originally built in the 1880s, the spans carried railroad traffic before they were moved to San Antonio. If you're keeping score, that makes this a rail-to-road-to-trail conversion.

Hermi's Bridge (Fulton and Cobb counties, Georgia)

Photo taken by Frank Mills in January 2009, prior to rehabilitation

In the 1970s, this two-span Pratt truss survived demolition based on the urging of Cecil and Hermione "Hermi" Alexander to keep it open for pedestrians. However, by 2006 the bridge had been condemned and faced demolition again. Thanks to funding from a variety of sources, the bridge was completely overhauled in 2010.

Calhoun Street Bridge (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Mercer County, New Jersey)

Photo taken by Ian Anderson in Sept. 2010

This spectacular seven-span truss bridge between Morrisville, PA, and Trenton, NJ, is built with wrought-iron Phoenix columns. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission invested $11.4M to rehabilitate the bridge over a five-month span, allowing this 1884 masterpiece to continue carrying light traffic.

Hares Hill Road Bridge (Chester County, Pennsylvania)

HAER photo

Built in 1869, this unusual structure is the only remaining example of Thomas Moseley's "Wrought-Iron Lattice Girder" design. In a rare move for PennDOT, the bridge was restored to continue carrying traffic.

Sheep Bridge (York County, Pennsylvania)

Photo taken by Jodi Christman in December 2010

We've seen the same argument numerous times from highway agencies: "We don't want to spend money repairing an obsolete bridge that can't support modern traffic." And yet, that's exactly what PennDOT did with this Whipple truss. They overhauled the bridge, giving it a new deck and blue-ish paint job, allowing the weight limit to be raised to 15 tons instead of 3 tons. Way to go, PennDOT! It's not always necessary to build a replacement bridge capable of carrying the Space Shuttle.

Airtight Bridge (Coles County, Illinois)

Photo taken by Robert Stephenson in March 2010, during rehabilitation

Coles County has a nice collection of steel and concrete bridges. Hopefully this will be true long after other counties have inevitably turned their historic bridges into UCEBs. This 1914 Pratt through truss was rehabilitated in 2010 with a new deck.

War Eagle Bridge (Benton County, Arkansas)

HAER photo

This 1907 Parker truss, along with adjacent mill, is a bona fide tourist attraction. Thanks to a major restoration project, tourists will be able to continue driving and walking across for many more years.

Alley Ford Bridge (Franklin County, Indiana)

Photo taken by Bill Eichelberger

Indiana has a solid track record for historic bridge preservation, saving bridges that most other states would be replacing with UCEBs. This 1927 Pratt truss was nicely restored to continue carrying traffic after it failed inspection in 2007. While some have commented on the dubious paint jobs, it's still a beautiful restoration.

McCloud Nature Park Bridge (Hendricks County, Indiana)

Photo taken by Anthony Dillon in June 2010

A fine example of adaptive reuse, this road bridge from Pulaski County was disassembled and transported to Hendricks County where it has been installed as a pedestrian crossing at a park. It features an unusual bolted Warren through truss design.

Big Bull Creek Bridge (Miami County, Kansas)

Photo taken by Ruth Reynolds in July 2010

This 1936 open-spandrel arch bridge has been fully restored. Unfortunately, the railings have been replaced by bog-ugly Jersey barries, making the bridge appear as a UCEB to passing motorists. But the arches remain underneath.

North Main Street Bridge (Strafford County, New Hampshire)

Photo taken by David P. Timmins

Did I just see a flying pig? No, but this is definitely a rare sight indeed: an historic bridge preserved using federal stimulus funds (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

Bridge of Lions (St. Johns County, Florida)

Photo taken July 2006 by James Baughn during disassembly of the bascule spans

After years of work, this bascule bridge at St. Augustine, Florida, finally reopened to traffic on March 16, 2010. It's somewhat of a mixed blessing, as this was a reconstruction rather than a rehabilitation, with much of the original bridge replaced by new materials. Nevertheless, the decorative towers remain, the bascule spans function the same as before, and the lions will soon be back.

As a side note, during the work, traffic had been diverted to a "temporary" vertical lift bridge built with Bailey-like trusses, a monumental landmark in its own right. When I visited in 2006, I was amused to find a "Save The Temporary Bridge!" sticker on the lift bridge.

Oak Knoll Park Bridge (Stark County, Ohio)

HAER photo

This bridge, an 1859 iron Howe truss, was already considered historically significant in 1899 when it was preserved as a footbridge in a Massillon city park. It was designed by Joseph Davenport, who would go on to found the Massillon Bridge Company. In December, Davenport's descendants were on hand to cut the ribbon on the bridge's rehabilitation and reopening.

On This Date In History...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge between Kanauga, Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia collapsed into the Ohio River. The collapse occurred during afternoon rush hour without any warning, the bridge simply failed. 46 people perished in the disaster.

It was a significant event in bridge history, because a result of the collapse was the creation of the National Bridge Inspection Standard, mandating that all bridges longer than 20 feet be inspected every two years.

An essay about the bridge, the collapse, appears on the Silver Memorial Bridge, opened exactly two years later, on this date in 1969.

And now... the winners

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

It's time to announce the Top Twelve recipients of the first-ever TRUSS Awards (Top Ranked Unique Savable Structures). These bridges are just the tip of the iceberg for historic bridges worthy of saving. Even though I received a large number of nominations, plenty of bridges weren't nominated at all, but that doesn't mean they aren't important (I'll discuss some of these in a future story).

Enough stalling, I'm opening the envelope now...

In no particular order

McMillin Bridge (Pierce County, Washington)

HAER photo

Featuring a reinforced concrete through truss, the McMillin Bridge was the first of its kind in the U.S. -- and also the last. The book Spanning Washingon: Historic Highway Bridges of the Evergreen State calls it a "unique and striking structure." The concrete truss design was chosen because it would save $826 over the cost of an equivalent steel bridge, a significant sum in 1934 when the bridge was built to replace an older truss bridge destroyed by flooding. Despite the innovative design, including seven feet wide hollow truss members, the design never caught on. A handful of smaller concrete truss bridges have been built in the U.S., but none have the distinctive configuration of the McMillan Bridge.

The bridge is now scheduled for replacement in 2011. The state highway department is asking for public input on how to proceed. Their press release from Nov. 5 states:

Options being considered in lieu of demolition include rerouting the nearby Foothills Trail onto the McMillin Bridge, adding another segment to the Foothills Trail that utilizes the McMillin Bridge, leaving the bridge in place as a historical monument for interpretive purposes, or removing it in its entirety.

The bridge sits right next to a preserved rail-to-trail truss bridge on the Foothills Trail, which complicates efforts to save it. However, if the McMillin Bridge could be left in place as a footbridge, it would serve as an interesting engineering lesson: steel and concrete truss bridges sitting side-by-side.

Mitchell River Bridge (Barnstable County, Massachusetts)

This is another one-of-a-kind bridge in the country. The Mitchell River Bridge at Chatham, Massachusetts, is a wooden bascule drawbridge. While a handful of other movable bridges include wooden parts, this is the only remaining bascule bridge built entirely with timber.

That fact alone should be enough to make listing this bridge on the National Register of Historic Places a no-brainer. However, state officials argued that the bridge (built 1936 but extensively rebuilt in 1980) lacked historic integrity.

Norman Pacum and the Friends of the Mitchell River Wooden Drawbridge filed an appeal directly with the Keeper of the National Register, hoping to have the bridge declared NR eligible because of its uniqueness. In a miraculous turn of events, the Keeper agreed with the appeal. This ruling might be unprecedented for a historic bridge, and opens the door for saving other unique bridges against opposition from indifferent local and state officials.

Nevertheless, the state continues to plow forward with plans to replace the bridge with a cursed cookie-cutter concrete monstrosity. They shouldn't be able to wipe out this unique bridge so easily.

Beatty Road Bridge (Morrow County, Ohio)

Photo by Brian McKee

This may look like an ordinary riveted Pratt through truss, but it generated more nominations than any other bridge thanks to a mini-letter-writing campaign by past and present Morrow County residents. Bonnie Jarvie Howington explained:

There is a lot of family history with this bridge. My grandfather, Raymond S. Foust who's homestead is about a half mile from the bridge was a rivet thrower when the bridge was constructed. His son, Chester Foust still lives in the home down the road. All of his children were born here and as one of his grandchildren I can remember going to this bridge with Grandpa when he went fishing. Please do everything you can to see that this bridge is saved!!!! It is definately a part of the Foust family history!

The bridge was repaired in 1996, but it has since deteriorated to the point that the superstructure is now rated Critical (2 out of 9). While currently open to traffic with a 4-ton weight limit, it's clear that this bridge urgently needs attention before it is condemned. Local support is essential for any successful historic bridge preservation project, so it's good to see that folks in Morrow County are paying attention.

Mead Avenue Bridge (Crawford County, Pennsylvania)

Photo by Jason Smith

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to as much local support for saving this bridge at Meadville, Pennsylvania. The town is sitting on a truly unique bridge. Or, rather, two truly unique bridges, with an 1871 Whipple truss sitting inside of a 1912 Baltimore truss. Either structure by itself would be historically significant, but the Mead Avenue Bridge takes the cake by combining both designs. The Phoenix columns of the Whipple truss and the decorative portal elements are the icing on the cake.

The bridge has been closed for some time and it appears most local residents just want the darn thing replaced and the street reopened. However, bridge historians would love to save this one-of-a-kind bridge, even if it means disassembling the structure and moving it out of state.

Long Shoals Bridge (Bourbon County, Kansas)

Photo by Robert Elder

This Kansas bridge has received more five-star votes than any other bridge so far (although it's linked from the front page, so maybe it had an unfair advantage). It's a truly spectacular bridge. The vertical endposts, ornate portals, and enormous vines combine to give this bridge an almost surreal quality.

While not imminently threatened with collapse or demolition, this bridge has clearly deteriorating since it was bypassed and it needs help. This would be an excellent opportunity to either restore the bridge in place, or to relocate it to a new location. What town wouldn't love to have their own 175-ft bridge on a walking trail?

Springfield Bridge (Faulkner and Conway counties, Arkansas)

Photo by Wayne Kizziar

Just like Long Shoals, this bridge was bypassed and allowed to remain standing. However, it's not really safe to say that the bridge was "saved", since it was abandoned with no maintenance. This 1874 King bowstring truss, the oldest documented bridge in Arkansas, has started to rapidly deteriorate. I cringe whenever somebody posts updated photos, since it's always bad news.

Independence Bowstring Bridge (Montgomery County, Kansas)

Photo by Robert Elder

Built in 1871 by the Wrought Iron Bridge Co., this two-span bowstring bridge features both Phoenix columns (main span) and Keystone columns (approach span). This configuration is unique to Kansas, and possibly the whole country. It's been condemned for decades with the deck missing, but how much longer can it hold out?

Meramec River US 66 Bridge (St. Louis County, Missouri)

Photo by Jack Schmidt

This seemed like the perfect success story. In 1997, Route 66 State Park was created, including a 1931 deck truss bridge along the original alignment of US 66. It's one of only a handful of deck truss highway bridges in Missouri. The bridge served as the main link between the park's visitor center and the rest of the park, so it seemed like the bridge had a bright future.

Until recently. The bridge was condemned by the state highway department and has been closed even to pedestrians. According to MoDOT, the bridge could collapse under its own weight. Without the bridge, reaching the main portion of the park is quite difficult, so there's a certain urgency to find a solution. To get from the visitor center to the park, one has to enter I-44 westbound, exit, make a U-turn, enter I-44 eastbound, exit, then follow a frontage road into the park.

MoDOT has rejected trying to rehabilitate the bridge and intends to demolish it in 2012 unless another agency is willing to pay for repairs and take over ownership and liability. Quite a few historic bridges are owned by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, including four covered bridges, dozens of truss bridges on the Katy Trail, and a handful of other bridges relocated to state parks for adaptive reuse. So it would make sense for DNR to take over ownership. But with the mediocre economy, DNR has a serious funding shortfall (and MoDOT isn't faring much better). As a result, the bridge was listed as one of Missouri's Most Endangered Historic Places for 2010.

If the bridge is lost, it's unlikely that anybody will be able to afford building a replacement, so it's important for the future of Route 66 State Park that a solution can be found to rehabilitate the bridge. There is plenty of support for saving it, but who will provide the funding?

Nachitoch Bluff Bridge (Clark and Nevada Counties, Arkansas)

Photo by Wayne Kizziar

This is a classic 1908 Camelback through truss that has been abandoned for several years. Recently, the approach on the Nevada County side has started to collapse, giving urgency to the need to rehabilitate this bridge before it is too late. Local support for saving the bridge is strong, with over 800 fans on Facebook.

Panther Creek Bridge (Miami County, Ohio)

Photo by Anthony Dillon

How often do you have the opportunity to buy your own bowstring truss? This ca. 1880 bridge, likely built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Co., was moved to a private driveway. The house, land, and bridge are now reportedly for sale. This is the kind of bridge that would probably have been replaced decades ago if it was still on a public road. Since the bridge needs repairs, it's quite possible that the new owners may decide to scrap it, so it's imperative to find a way to save it now.

Wagon Wheel Bridge (Boone County, Iowa)

Photo by Jason Smith

These days, it's becoming increasingly hard to find multi-span truss bridges on county roads. The Wagon Wheel Bridge is one of the best remaining examples of a "wagon bridge" in Iowa, featuring a Pennsylvania through truss, three Pratt through trusses, and approach spans for a total length of 703 ft. This gem, however, is now closed to traffic thanks to damage from flooding.

Sitting in a scenic location with a great view of the nearby Kate Shelley High Bridge, the Wagon Wheel Bridge is a modest tourist attraction.

The county had proposed a $6 million bond issue to build a replacement bridge and demolish the old structure. During the November election, 70% of voters in Boone County rejected the measure. It's hard to say whether voters were mostly concerned about taxes, or whether they didn't want to see the old bridge demolished. Or both. It's unclear what will happen next, but hopefully the county can find a better solution, either rehabilitating the old bridge for traffic, or building a new bridge without demolishing the old one.

Riverside Bridge (Christian County, Missouri)

In 2003, Christian County demolished a two-span 1906 Pratt through truss, replacing it with an ugly concrete bridge on the same location. This wasn't a particularly popular choice with local residents, who questioned why the bridge had to be scrapped.

Hopefully the county commissioners won't be able to do the same thing again. A similar bridge, the Riverside Bridge, is now threatened. Kris Dyer has spearheaded a campaign to save the bridge, generating plenty of television and newspaper coverage plus over 3,000 supporters on Facebook. Thanks to her efforts, the bridge was declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and listed as one of Missouri's Most Endangered Historic Places for 2010.

The bridge was closed to traffic in September. With an average daily traffic count of 1,500, the bridge serves a busy county road. When I visited a few years ago, it was almost impossible to walk across the bridge without getting run over by the heavy traffic. Therefore, rehabilitating the bridge to continue carrying traffic probably isn't very feasible, but that doesn't mean the bridge needs to be scrapped. The replacement bridge could be built on a new alignment while the old bridge is retained as a pedestrian crossing. As an alternative, the trusses could be moved to a walking trail in the nearby city of Ozark. Indeed, the bridge was originally built in Ozark before it was moved to Riverside, so a second move wouldn't hurt the bridge's historic significance.

Even if it isn't possible to save the Riverside Bridge, Kris Dyer is certainly drawn attention to the issue of historic preservation which hopefully will carry over to other projects in Missouri.

Top Ranked Unique Savable Structures

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

First, the good news. When I asked for nominations for the bridges most worthy of preservation, I didn't expect to have an inbox overflowing with entries. But I did. There was even a small letter writing campaign in support of one bridge in particular.

That leads me, however, to the bad news. There's simply far too many historic bridges across the U.S. threatened by demolition or neglect. Despite our best efforts, the vast majority will be gone before we know it. This kind of list shouldn't be necessary, but here we are.

From the nominations, I tried to pick out the best of the best. It wasn't easy, as good cases could be made for all of the nominees. In the end, I settled on the Top Twelve bridges, a nice round number, for the inaugural TRUSS Award -- or Top Ranked Unique Savable Structures. (This sounds better than the old name.)

I considered these criteria:

Number of times the bridge was nominated
Number of five-star votes received in the new voting widget
Historic significance and rarity of the bridge's design
Level of local support for saving the bridge
Likelihood that the bridge will be destroyed or lost in the next few years if nothing is done
Ease of preserving the bridge, either through rehabilitation on site, or by moving it somewhere else

Today, I'm going to announce the Honorable Mentions, the bridges that didn't make the Top Twelve but are worthy of notice. I hate for these to get buried behind the top winners, so I'm presenting them first.

In no particular order:

Puyallup River Bridge (Pierce County, Washington)

This is probably the only Turner (or Turner-like) truss bridge in existence. It's a unique, nationally significant bridge. While not in immediate danger, it carries heavy traffic and has a low sufficiency rating of 9 out of 100. As the last of its kind, this bridge is too important to ignore.

Meadows Road Bridge (Northampton County, Pennsylvania)

In most places, a stone arch bridge from 1858 would be safe from destruction. But this is Pennsylvania, so it's no surprise this four-span classic bridge is slated for replacement in 2011.

Carlton Bridge (Mercer County, Pennsylvania)

Here we are in Pennsylvania again. This is a classic 1898 Columbia Bridge Works creation with ornate portal details. With a sufficiency rating of only 1 out of 100, it's a miracle that the PennDOT bulldozers haven't already bulldozed this bridge.

Morris Mill Bridge (Giles County, Tennessee)

How often do you see a wrought iron, pin-connected Warren pony truss from the 1880s? To make it even better, this bridge has laced endposts. It's derelict with the deck missing. I really wanted to include this bridge in the Top Twelve for its extreme rarity, but it doesn't appear to be immediately doomed. Still, it will continue to deteriorate unless the bridge is moved somewhere else.

Dodd Ford Bridge (Blue Earth County, Minnesota)

This is a classic 1901 Camelback through truss that is slated for replacement. It's the age-old problem: The county wants to get rid of it, but many locals want to save it.

Collins River Bridge (Warren County, Tennessee)

It's a "Frankenbridge" pieced together from spans from older bridges, including one span from an 1887 bridge that once stood in Nashville. The bridge is abandoned, with one end sitting in the yard of a house. It's hard to deny the bridge's historic significance, but what to do with it?

Osage Creek Bridge (Benton County, Arkansas)

This 1911 pin-connected Pratt through truss is closed to traffic and likely doomed. What else is new?

Guilford Red Bridge (Dearborn County, Indiana)

I think it's safe to say that Indiana has the best track record of any state for preserving bridges. But even Indiana has its share of doomed bridges. This vintage Pratt truss, formerly a railroad bridge, has been declared "Non-Select" and slated for replacement.

Brooksburg Bridge (Jefferson County, Indiana)

Lost in the woods, this abandoned 1894 Camelback truss was bypassed years ago and left to the elements.

Patoka River Bowstring (Pike County, Indiana)

While it isn't held together with duct tape, this ca. 1880 bowstring has been patched and re-patched over the years to allow it to continue carrying traffic. It features a possibly one-of-a-kind construction and cries out for a full restoration.

Walnut River Bridge (Butler County, Kansas)

Like many bridges built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Co., the plaque advertises the company, but leaves out the year of construction. Still, this is probably an 1880s bridge. It carries traffic on a "low-maintenance" road -- the kind of place where it would be silly to build a multi-million dollar UCEB. While that doesn't appear to be the case here, it's a disturbing possibility in the future.

Valley Road Bridge (York County, Pennsylvania)

Even though this bridge has been extensively modified, it's still a ca. 1870 cast-and-wrought-iron pony truss with Keystone columns. Need I say more? Unfortunately, the bridge is part of a tourist railroad that finds itself in serious financial limbo. The line could easily be sold and scrapped.

Butler Bridge (Sumner County, Tennessee)

Surely there's a trail project in Tennessee that could make good use of this 100-ft. polygonal Warren pony truss.

Old Copper Mine Bridge (Lumpkin County, Georgia)

Likewise, surely somebody in Georgia can find a use for this abandoned pony truss.

Old KY 169 Bridge (Jessamine County, Kentucky)

This appears to be another "Frankenbridge" assembled from spare parts. The most interesting parts are the double-intersection Warren pony trusses.

Farmersville Road Bridge (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania)

Why does it seem Pennsylvania has so many nationally significant bridges? Most other states would try to find a way to save them, but not here. This 1917 bridge is a concrete cantilevered curved chord through girder. It's doomed.

Cedar Grove Bridge (Franklin County, Indiana)

Here's another abandoned Camelback truss. It does have the good fortune of being located in Indiana, so there's a better chance it can be saved versus most other states.

Murray Bridge (Humboldt County, Iowa)

This 1905 Pratt through truss was damaged in 2004 and is now likely to be replaced.

Vera Cruz Bridge (Wells County, Indiana)

It's an abandoned 1887 Whipple truss. 'Nuff said.

Washington Bridge (Franklin County, Missouri)

With large bridges over the Missouri River dropping like flies, this 1936 bridge is probably the last best hope for saving one of these monumental cantilevered truss bridges over the Missouri.

Falling Rock (Licking County, Ohio)

This ca. 1872 iron Howe pony truss is nationally significant, but appears to be deteriorating each time I see photos of it.

Grand Glaize Bridge (Miller County, Missouri)

We should be thankful this suspension bridge is still capable of carrying traffic, but it can't hold out much longer without extensive repairs. It has a sufficiency rating of 0 and scares the living daylights out of every tourist that dares cross it.

Sixth Street Bridge (Los Angeles County, California)

This bridge has probably been seen in more car commercials, TV shows, and movies than any other bridge, including the Golden Gate. The twin arches, framing the L.A. skyline in the distance, make a dream setting for any director or producer. This cultural icon, however, is doomed.

Check back later for the Top Twelve winners of the prestigious TRUSS Award 2011...

Buy and sell photos

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

Here we are at Black Friday, or Crass Commercialism Appreciation Day. In that spirit, Bridgehunter.com is pleased to announce new features for buying and selling historic bridge photos on this website.

Sellers

If you have an Editor's Account, you can now add a link to each photo for ordering prints, buying cheesy merchandise, or selling licenses. Just upload your photos to a storefront such as Imagekind, Cafepress, Lulu, etc., and then copy-and-paste the link to the order page for each photo. To make it easier for people to find your photos, you can tag up to 100 photos as a "favorite" and it will appear on your profile page. The options for adding links and favorites are available on the Add Photos and Manage Photos screens.

Of course, uploading photos to other websites is a pain. We now have an extra option to make all (or most) of your photos available for purchase all at once. Here's an example. Your photos will have a "Request this photo" button to make it easy for customers to contact you about requesting a print or license. Then you can upload the high-resolution version of the photo to a site like Imagekind and let the customer order from there. I'm still beta-testing this feature, so if you're interested, let me know so I can set you up.

Buyers

If you're looking for original artwork for Christmas gifts (or for yourself), then keep your eyes peeled for the "Order this photo" or "Request this photo" buttons throughout the website.

Supporting more buzzwords

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

I've added some new features to make Bridgehunter.com more buzzword compliant:

1. Each bridge page now includes an AJAX-powered rating widget to leverage the power of crowdsourcing. The idea is to give each bridge a rating of 0-5 stars based on your opinion of the bridge's overall historic significance. After enough votes are tabulated, the most important bridges will rise to the top, while UCEBs will drop to the bottom where they belong.

To cast your vote, just hover your mouse over the widget to choose the appropriate 0-5 rating (partial stars are allowed). After you click, you should see a note that says "Vote cast!" If you change your mind, you can click again to update your vote.

2. Each bridge page also supports social bookmarking with links to share the page on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

3. The tables on the site, including the County Guide pages and NBI listings, are now sortable through the magic of Web 2.0 technology. Just click one of the headers to sort everything in the column below.

Now that the site has been upgraded with all of these pointless buzzwords, when can I expect to receive my $1.5 million in venture capital funding that other buzzword-enhanced websites have been getting?

Introducing The Bridgehunter.com Top Bridges That Can Be Saved List

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

November is Historic Bridge Awareness Month. To mark this event, Bridgehunter.com is putting together a list of Top Bridges That Can Be Saved (TBTCBS). In a similar fashion to the Most Endangered Historic Places lists produced by state and national historic preservation organizations, the Can Be Saved List will highlight those bridges that are threatened (either by demolition or neglect) but have a realistic chance of being saved if enough people show their support.

This list isn't just for bridges that are slated for replacement by UCEBs. Some historic bridges have been "saved" at some point in the past, but are now abandoned, crumbling, and will eventually be lost anyway if nothing is done.

If you know of a bridge that is threatened but is worthy of saving, then please nominate the bridge for possible inclusion in the list. You can go to the listing page for the bridge and click the new "Nominate this bridge" link at the top. Or, if the bridge doesn't have a listing already, then you can go to the nomination form directly.

The final list will be announced in a few weeks, so don't procrastinate in nominating your favorite bridge or bridges.

Random links of interest

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PST

Raymond Klein forwarded a link to a book from 1891 entitled "Report of the Board of railroad commissioners of the state of New York on strains on railroad bridges of the state." Despite the dry title, the book is quite fascinating, featuring simple drawings of the iron and steel railroad truss bridges in New York State. Glancing through the book, I spotted examples of the elusive Whipple deck truss design.
Illinois now has a website on the historic bridges in the state.
Ohio has posted a revised version (from Sept. 27, 2010) of its historic bridge inventory.
This page on the Federal Highway Administration website describes various kinds of bridge rails. Unfortunately, it appears that many of the safest designs are also among the ugliest designs.
I haven't had a chance to download and convert any of the massive files, but this website offers scanned images of 1890s-era maps from the Mississippi River Commission.

Welcome, participants from "Outwit the West"

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PST

I've noticed a surge in traffic during the last week as contestants in the Marlboro "Outwit the West" contest have been searching for the answers to Question #9. The question requires matching four photos of bridges with the name of the river that they cross.

The quiz is rather sneaky. Here are some hints:

Photo A. Based on the number of hits I've received from people Googling for the Rob Roy Bridge over the Arkansas River, it appears many people are going to get this one wrong. It's not Rob Roy.

Photo B. This is a ferry, not a bridge. Ha!

Photo C. The Alabama state flag is obviously just a distraction. Look closely at the tower on the left. Other than the Golden Gate Bridge, what is the most famous suspension bridge in the West? (Although I would argue the bridge's "fame" is overrated.)

Photo D. Ignore the fish-eye lens effect and consider how grand this canyon looks.

"Bridge Day" on the New River Gorge Bridge

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PST

October 16 was the 31st Annual Bridge Day event at the New River Gorge Bridge, near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The New River Gorge Bridge was the longest steel arch bridge in the world when it was built, and was long a target of BASE jumpers, Rappellers and bungee jumpers. Once a year, authorities close down US 19 to allow enthusiasts to jump off the bridge to the New River, 876 feet below the surface of the bridge.

(BASE is an acronym for the enthusiasts of the extreme sport, who jump from a building, antenna, span or earth.)

The first BASE jump from the NRGB was made (illegally) in 1979 by Burton Ervin. The attraction to use the bridge, illegally, for BASE and bungee jumping gave Glenn Lukacs of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce the idea to create Bridge Day. On November 8, 1980, the first legal BASE jumps were made from the NRGB.

Bridge Day has been held every year since, with the exception of 2001. Due to severe injuries to a bungee jumper in 1993, that type of jump is no longer allowed.

Today was Bridge Day, with over 400 extreme athletes there to BASE jump along with 20 Rappellers. Thousands of spectators were there to watch and enjoy the festivities.

For more about this year's Bridge Day, see Gorgeous Day for a Free Fall on the website of the Beckley Register-Herald.

Site updates

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PST

The problems from last week with the Google Street View widget appear to have been fixed.
I've had some inquiries about how to submit photos to be included in the redesigned masthead at the top of the front page. There's two requirements: the photo needs to be cropped into a very wide format (760 pixels wide by 135 pixels tall), and there needs to be room to fit the "BRIDGEHUNTER.COM" name in one of the corners. You can upload photos using the Feedback form. Note: LandmarkHunter.com will get the same treatment as soon I can round up enough masthead photos.