Rating:
4 votes

West Main Street Bridge

Hunterdon County, New Jersey

Photos 

View, Looking From Northwest, Showing Approach

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #137455

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Two-span iron pony truss bridge over South Branch Raritan River on W. Main Street in Clinton
Location
Clinton, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Status
Open to one-way traffic
History
Built 1870 by the Cowin Iron Works
Builders
- Charles Cowin
- Cowin Iron Works of Lambertville, New Jersey
- William Cowin
Design
Two pin-connected, 8-panel, wrought- and cast-iron Pratt pony trusses with vertical endposts
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 85.0 ft.
Total length: 170.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.7 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.63601, -74.91207   (decimal degrees)
40°38'10" N, 74°54'43" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/507435/4498355 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
High Bridge
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
380
Inventory numbers
NJ 10XX0N1 (New Jersey bridge number)
BH 25277 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of June 2017)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 19.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

19th Century (6,883)
Built 1870 (128)
Built during 1870s (996)
Cast iron (66)
Charles Cowin (1)
Clinton, New Jersey (8)
Cowin Iron Works (5)
HAER documented (1,103)
Have street view (25,405)
Hunterdon County, New Jersey (173)
NR-listed (2,881)
New Jersey (1,336)
Open (38,211)
 Owned by county (20,051)
Pony truss (15,694)
Pratt pony truss (3,476)
Pratt truss (8,739)
Skewed (4,815)
Span length 75-100 feet (6,176)
Steel grate deck (438)
Structurally deficient (15,853)
Total length 125-175 feet (5,673)
Truss (31,224)
Vertical endposts (68)
William Cowin (1)
Wrought Iron (380)

Update Log 

  • April 13, 2018: New photo from Art Suckewer
  • November 9, 2017: New photos from Dana and Kay Klein
  • July 13, 2013: Updated by Dave King: Added new photos
  • December 23, 2012: New photo from Andrew Pearce
  • August 7, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn
  • April 19, 2009: Posted HAER photos

Sources 

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Comments 

West Main Street Bridge
Posted February 15, 2015, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

nice website related to the bridge with pictures:

http://taimages.railstotrails.org/6-Historic-Preservation-Re...

West Main Street Bridge
Posted August 22, 2014, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Article about builder:

http://goodspeedhistories.com/the-lockatong-bridge-on-raven-...

West Main Street Bridge
Posted April 6, 2014, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

I drove over this bridge over the weekend. It is really magnificent in person. For those traveling through the NY metro area, it less than an hour by car from Newark International (not that I recommend flying into Newark, but if you must...).

At first, the cream color that Hunterdon is now using on its antique metal bridges didn't appeal to me but it really works on making this one stand out.

The castings appear to be in great shape and all of the pertinent info is cast into the top chords. The only issue is an apparent dip in the deck of the western span when viewed from the north (the top chord does not seem to be affected).

Its amazing that this bridge is a tourist attraction while a bridge just one year newer (Meadville, PA) is about to come down.

Regards,

Art S.