Bliss Road Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Lost through Pratt truss bridge over Auglaize River on Bliss Road (TR 63)
- Location
- Allen County, Ohio
- Status
- Lost
- History
- Built 1908 by the Home Engineering & Contracting Co.; rehabilitated 1988; replaced 2011
- Builder
- - Home Engineering & Contracting Co.
- Design
- Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 139.1 ft.
Total length: 147.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.7 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.2 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.80000, -84.28833 (decimal degrees)
40°47'60" N, 84°17'18" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/728755/4520094 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Delphos
- Inventory numbers
- ODOT 241296 (Ohio Dept. of Transportation structure file number)
BH 27200 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 12/2006)
- Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 26.8 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2000)
- 283
Update Log
- October 27, 2011: Updated by K. A. Erickson: Bridge has been replaced per information provided
- March 24, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- Janis Ford
- K. A. Erickson
Comments
That's an idea that sounds good to me Chris...although you'd be hard pressed to find any government officials that would think so.
There have been situations where a modern span has been paired with a historic bridge successfully. Here is my favorite:
http://bridgehunter.com/in/marion/4900027/
But in this situation the bridge carries some 40,000 cars a day. The Bliss Road Bridge was (by the listed ADT)a low volume bridge that carried under 300. We have several historic bridges in Indiana on low volume roads that have been rehabilitated and remain in use...all 1 lane of them.
I have a question for you. Why, in situations where the traffic is deemed to great for a one lane bridge, don't they take a similar bridge and set it next to the old one and have them each carry a direction? It seems like a logical solution and could kill the proverbial two birds with one extra bridge. Just an idea.
I had that happen when I went to see the Beisner Road Bridge in Darke County. I expected to see a 1930 Massillon built polygonal Warren pony...but found a modern welded "wannabe" instead. Although I never want to see an historic bridge replaced with a replica, part of me says that this is still better than a concrete slab. I have a bigger issue with the welded part, being that I have been raised on pins and rivets. And most of these I have seen are unpainted and drab looking. Perhaps a nice bright color might help to hide the fact that it is indeed "fake".
As for the Bliss Road Bridge...I think that each county should be required to save at least one truss bridge for posterity's sake. This would have been a nice one to at least bypass and preserve.
Guess this road's not so "Bliss-ful" anymore...
Yes, modern pony truss bridges are like the black plague of Ohio. They are quite annoying because when you are driving around, from a distance you see a truss and get all excited thinking you have found a "bonus bridge" and then you find out its only a welded modern bridge.
Based on the photos from the link below this and the Osman Road Bridge >> http://bridgehunter.com/oh/allen/245666/ were replaced this year. The Bowsher Road Bridge http://bridgehunter.com/oh/allen/249815/ on the county roads website reads as being replaced as well, with bids, contracts being let, yet the pictures show a possibly new pony truss?
Bridge is now gone. I believe this was the last pinned Pratt thru truss in Allen county, all the others disappeared about 10-15 years ago. Here's the link to photos of the UCEBification of this crossing:
Jack, I changed the status of the bridge, based on your report. Thanks!
March 24, 2008: the bridge is closed to traffic. Looks like it has been for a while.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/oh/allen/241296/