Rating:
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Hares Hill Road Bridge

Chester County, Pennsylvania
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Photos 

Overview

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Wrought-iron arch bridge over French Creek on Hares Hill Road
Location
Chester County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1869 by Thomas Moseley
Builder
- Moseley Iron Bridge & Roof Co.
Design
Wrought-iron tied arch with latticework
Dimensions
Span length: 102.0 ft.
Total length: 102.0 ft.
Deck width: 14.6 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1978
Also called
Silver Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.14118, -75.56785   (decimal degrees)
40°08'28" N, 75°34'04" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/451628/4443581 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Phoenixville
Inventory numbers
PA 15 1045 0020 1201 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 78002375 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 10370 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30665 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 12/2009)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 3.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
3,890

Categories 

19th Century (3,851)
Built 1869 (33)
Built during 1860s (224)
Chester County, Pennsylvania (113)
Have street view (10,034)
Last of its kind (8)
Moseley Iron Bridge & Roof Co. (1)
NR-listed (2,355)
 Open (28,453)
Owned by state (9,851)
Pennsylvania (3,045)
Span length 100-125 feet (3,307)
Structurally deficient (16,728)
Total length 100-125 feet (3,649)
Wrought iron (230)

Update Log 

  • April 13, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn
  • October 13, 2008: Added new photos from HAER; updated information provided by Steve Guinter

Sources 

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Comments 

Hares Hill Road Bridge
Posted December 16, 2010, by wldmn

The historic Hares Hill Road Bridge over French Creek in East Pikeland Township, Chester County was reopened on Friday (Dec. 10, 2010) following the completion of an $866,689 rehabilitation project.

PennDOT’s contractor worked since June 2010 to preserve this historic structure and increase its useful life without adversely affecting its historical integrity. The improvement plan consisted of rehabilitating girders; replacing damaged structural steel members; replacing the bridge’s grid-deck and adding a four-foot wide center concrete strip for bicycle use; cleaning and repainting the bridge; resurfacing the roadway approaches; and restoring the stone wing walls.

The weight limit on the bridge, which is 103 feet long and 15 feet wide, has been raised to 15 tons on account of the structural improvements made over the past few months. The bridge was posted for seven tons prior to the start of the construction.

Originally built in 1869, the Hares Hill Road Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only known surviving example of Thomas William Moseley’s Wrought-Iron Lattice Girder Bridge and is the only wrought-iron highway bridge in public use in Chester County.

Road-Con, Inc. of West Chester, Chester County, was the general contractor on the $826,689 project that was financed with 100 percent state funds.