Rating:
2 votes

Sewalls Falls Road Bridge

Merrimack County, New Hampshire
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Photos 

Sewalls Falls Road Bridge02

View from downstream side. Photo taken from adjacent multi-use park.

Photo taken by David P. Timmins

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Merrimack River on Sewalls Falls Road
Location
Merrimack County, New Hampshire
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1915; rehabilitated 1936
Builder
- John Williams Storrs (Designer)
Design
Two-span riveted Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 167.0 ft.
Total length: 660.1 ft.
Deck width: 16.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 11.3 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+43.27111, -71.56444   (decimal degrees)
43°16'16" N, 71°33'52" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
19/291893/4794115 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Penacook
Inventory number
BH 25001 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 10/2011)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Critical (2 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 0.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
4,300

Categories 

Built 1915 (966)
Built during 1910s (6,731)
Doomed (805)
Have street view (9,908)
John Williams Storrs (4)
Merrimack County, New Hampshire (36)
Merrimack River (16)
NR-eligible (3,751)
New Hampshire (296)
Open (28,320)
 Owned by city (3,053)
Pratt through truss (3,166)
Pratt truss (5,660)
Skewed (4,080)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,955)
Structurally deficient (16,683)
Sufficiency rating zero (308)
Through truss (9,211)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,805)
Truss (23,575)

Update Log 

  • March 17, 2013: Updated by James Baughn: Bridge is doomed
  • May 1, 2012: Updated by Will Truax: Added design engineer
  • September 11, 2011: New photos from Luke Harden
  • September 11, 2011: New Street View added by J.P.
  • October 12, 2008: New photos from David P. Timmins

Sources 

  • David P. Timmins - grumpytimm [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Will Truax - Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com
  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
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Comments 

Sewalls Falls Road Bridge
Posted January 8, 2013, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

Scratch my previous comment. God forbid any truss bridge be preserved. Now they are changing their mind and want to demolish the bridge http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/3632597-95/bridge-roberge-commission-council

Sewalls Falls Road Bridge
Posted May 1, 2012, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

I was pleasantly surprised to see this bridge is apparently to be rehabbed and become part of a one way couplet. One way couplets are excellent preservation solutions for busier roads needing two lanes. Sadly however, they are rarely actually built. http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/272780/sewalls-falls-project-hits-speed-bump?SESS24933fc1f5c1239d914ceb0745e0638b=google

Sewalls Falls Road Bridge
Posted October 12, 2007, by Shel Perkins (jnsperkins [at] cox [dot] net)

Here's photos of the Sewall Falls Bridge taken Oct 2, 2007

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