Rating:
3 votes

FIR - Industrial Flats Lift Bridge

Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Photos 

Photo taken by C Hanchey

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

View this photo on Flickr

BH Photo #278295

Map 

Street Views 

Description 

This bridge was selected as the 1953 Class IV "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge" by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). The bridge currently carries the Class III railroad known as the Flats Industrial Railroad. The operator tower is used as the headquarters for the Flats Industrial Railroad.

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Cuyahoga River on Flats Industrial Railroad
Location
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Status
Open to traffic but seldom used
History
Built 1953
Builders
- Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff Corporation of Kansas City, Kansas
- Mt. Vernon Bridge Co. of Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Railroads
- Conrail (CR)
- Flats Industrial Railroad (FIR)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
Design
Warren through truss with all verticals
Also called
FIR - Ox Bow Bend Lift Bridge
Cuyahoga River Bridge No.8
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.49215, -81.69978   (decimal degrees)
41°29'32" N, 81°41'59" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/441587/4593629 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Cleveland South
Inventory number
BH 60159 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

AISC Award Winner (22)
Built 1953 (334)
Built during 1950s (3,901)
Cleveland, Ohio (121)
Conrail (1,666)
Cuyahoga County, Ohio (207)
Cuyahoga River (63)
Flats Industrial Railroad (1)
Have street view (27,722)
Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff Corporation (30)
Movable (3,063)
Mt. Vernon Bridge Co. (65)
 Navigable waterway (2,182)
New York Central Railroad (953)
Ohio (3,691)
Open (40,266)
Owned by railroad (12,986)
Penn Central Railroad (1,477)
Rigid Connected Tower Vertical Lift (60)
Through truss (15,749)
Tower Drive Vertical Lift (64)
Truss (33,911)
Vertical lift (423)

Update Log 

  • September 22, 2019: New photos from Jann Mayer
  • July 29, 2017: New photos from Douglas Butler
  • January 5, 2016: New video from Douglas Butler
  • January 4, 2016: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • November 27, 2015: New photos from Douglas Butler
  • October 21, 2015: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • June 15, 2015: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
  • March 10, 2014: New photos from Douglas Butler
  • March 7, 2014: Added by Luke Harden

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Luke
  • Douglas Butler
  • Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
  • Jann Mayer - jannmayer [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

FIR - Industrial Flats Lift Bridge
Posted May 12, 2020, by G Moreland (Geoffreymoreland [at] gmail [dot] com)

The bridges future is in jeopardy. FIRRs only customer on the west side of the bridge has closed. (Grain Craft)

FIR - Ox Bow Bend Lift Bridge
Posted March 10, 2014, by Douglas Butler (drawbridges [at] lycos [dot] com)

Better known as the Industrial Flats railroad Bridge,Cleveland is my home town with lift bridges of 5 vehical and 5 train bridges equals 10 vertical lift bridges