Hares Hill Road Bridge
Photos
Overview
Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record
View photos at Library of Congress
BH Photo #125895
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
- Builders
- - Moseley Iron Bridge & Roof Co. of Boston, Massachusetts
- Thomas Moseley (Design)
- 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)
- Quadrangle map:
- Phoenixville
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 4,895
- 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 report (as of December 2018)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 46.8 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- June 7, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
- September 27, 2014: New photos from Patrick S. O'Donnell
- September 25, 2014: New Street View added by Luke
- March 2, 2014: Photo imported by Dave King
- 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
- HAER PA-208 - Hares Hill Road Bridge, Spanning French Creek, Kimberton, Chester County, PA
- Wikipedia
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
- Luke
- Patrick S. O'Donnell - 1 [dot] 991km [at] comcast [dot] net
- Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
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.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/pa/chester/hares-hill/
I'm a recreational cyclist, so the addition of the bike strip when the bridge was rehabilitated is a nice addition indeed--especially with State Bicycle Route S crossing one mile south at Coldstream Rd. You can view the bike strip in Picture 22 of 23 above. In fact, the entire series of snapshots shows that this bridge was, and still is, built to last.