Arion Road-Scioto Brush Creek Bridge

Nathan,

My guess is that there will be considerably less interest in bridges in the future, both from engineering students and historians, especially as even more of the old spans are lost. In my own case, I don't even remember when I got interested in bridges, it's pretty much just always been a part of me. I'd say my interest in truss bridges was really kindled about ten years ago, however, after I discovered your website and visited the Tindall Bridge in Sandusky County, Ohio; however, it wasn't really until four or five years ago that I began exploring and photographing these old icons on my own.

I never really thought of roller coasters as being bridge-like structures (perhaps because I've never really been up close to one), but now that you mention it they do have somewhat similar structures that in this case are deliberately designed to be spectacular. Also I'm a big fan of the mega-interchanges in Texas as well...the Dallas High Five is an incredible feat of engineering!

Paul,

I often wonder what future generations will think of "new" bridges like these. Will an 85 year old pre-stressed adjacent concrete beams with Armco guardrail stir the passions of a young high school student who discovers it in the way the first pin connected through truss I photographed captivated me with its complexity and variety of details? Are bridges "interesting" simply because they are old, or because they are "engineered structures" and the complexity plays no role? Or have we crossed a line where bridges are now so simple in appearance that they won't be seen by "regular people" as anything other than a continuation of a road. You are correct that Modjeski would not have liked many of the trusses that get a lot of attention on this website (portal cresting, and finials were particularly disliked as they were non-structural attempts at aesthetics, although I see this as similar to today's context sensitive design... putting stone formliners on concrete to make it look old for example) Similarly I wonder if someone like Modjeski would like this bridge for example (I do find his ideas on aesthetics to be quite interesting and substantiated by actual bridges he built, and more sensible compared to more boisterous opinions held by Waddell, who mostly just ran his mouth while continuing to build movable bridges that did not really fit into this thinking). Lastly, although everyone here knows modern bridges are not my thing, I would also add my opinions are colored by my overseas travel where I have found that many modern bridges of creative and aesthetic design can be seen... everywhere from Europe to Asia I have seen much nicer looking bridges than are built in America. Actually some of the most interesting forms of modern engineering in America that come close to bridge design but with some aesthetic qualities would be roller coasters, the way in which structural steel is used to form these bridge-like structures is, I think, employed in an aesthetic manner, since so much time is spent with people waiting in line under these structures, the businesses that rely on these for income want them to look nice while people wait. To be fair I do hold a (very secret) interest in extremely large interchanges even if they are modern, mainly I am thinking of Texas which has some insane interchange bridges that certainly are more worthy of being on a website like bridgehunter (rather than the modern MOBs people have posted in the past) I used to draw interchanges like this when I was bored as a kid in school. https://goo.gl/maps/A8azJGPxKcTCS3Q46

Nathan,

Working in restoration would certainly be something I would enjoy doing. I don't necessarily think all modern bridges are ugly (and even a cookie-cutter prestressed stringer like this one holds some attraction for me, as weird as that sounds) but they definitely don't compare in any respect to the old spans.

Then again, I keep thinking that perhaps during the iron bridge heyday, the engineers who designed them might have considered their bridges ugly compared to the stone structures and other bridges that had gone before (I think it was Ralph Modjeski who considered bridges of his time to actually be fairly utilitarian and expected future spans to show more aesthetic quality haha!), so maybe someday today's modern concrete bridges might look good compared to what might get built in the future....I doubt this will happen and hope it doesn't but who knows.

Either way, the inventory photos definitely look more appropriate as a thumbnail for this page.

Paul,

From one pontist to another here's to hoping you can find a job working in the rehab/restoration divisions of VS Engineering (Jim Barker) or maybe McCormick Taylor or even Transystems so you don't have to spend your life designing bridges like this (my research indicated that this is not just the 2nd longest, its also Ohio's 2nd ugliest!) This country needs more engineers with an appreciation and understanding of historic bridges and who have confidence in the methods of repair and restoration that are feasible for so many historic bridges.

Also, as to this page specifically, I think the page was originally intended to list the historic truss bridge at this location based on the data shown, so I added the old HBI sheet as thats all I have for this bridge, sadly.

The below comment about the replacement bridge being Ohio's second-longest single-span prestressed concrete bridge appears to be correct per a quick search on BridgeReports.com, although there are a few multi-span bridges in the Buckeye State with longer spans. Incidentally, the longest single-span bridge of this type in Ohio is also in Scioto County, on Dixon Mill Road.

Not historic or noteworthy enough for a listing on this site but of interest to a prospective civil engineer (me).

This bridge is the second longest single span prestressed concrete bridge in Ohio

"UCEB"