Rating:
3 votes

Swatara Creek Bridge

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Photos 

4/26/09

Photo taken by Jodi Christman

Enlarge

BH Photo #178496

Map 

Description 

FROM THE 1996-2001 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORIC BRIDGE SURVEY: The 5-span, 313'-long reinforced concrete arch bridge built in 1910 has coursed ashlar brownstone spandrel walls with dentils. The stonework alternates between thin and thick courses of textured stone to give a handsome and distinctive appearance. It is supported on concrete piers and abutments. The railings have been replaced by W-beam guiderails (ca. 1985). Although the bridge has lost its railings, the arches and spandrel walls are unaltered and the bridge retains over all integrity of original design. The bridge is noteworthy in the local context for the use of Hummelstown brownstone, a material quarried nearby beginning in the early 19th century, and which by the late 19th century had gained a regional reputation as a fine quality building material. The reinforced concrete arch bridge technology was introduced in Pennsylvania during the first decade of the 20th century, and the 1910 deck arch bridge is among the early distinguished examples of its type/design in the region.

Facts 

Overview
Five-span concrete arch bridge over Swatara Creek on North Duke Street (TR 690) in Hummelstown
Location
Hummelstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
Current Section 106 Preferred Alternative is Demolition and Replacement of this historic bridge.
History
Built 1910; rehabilitated ca. 1985
Design
Closed-spandrel arch
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 57.1 ft.
Total length: 313.0 ft.
Deck width: 17.7 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.27072, -76.71650   (decimal degrees)
40°16'15" N, 76°42'59" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/354056/4459218 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Hershey
Average daily traffic (as of 2015)
1,200
Inventory numbers
PA 22 7215 0690 3032 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 14702 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30846 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of June 2015)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Imminent Failure (1 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 20 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Arch (12,059)
Built 1910 (1,155)
Built during 1910s (9,624)
Closed-spandrel arch (3,965)
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (113)
Deck arch (11,297)
Doomed (1,073)
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania (3)
 NR-eligible (4,045)
Open (39,798)
Owned by county (20,731)
Pennsylvania (5,296)
Span length 50-75 feet (10,056)
Structurally deficient (14,286)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,216)

Update Log 

  • June 8, 2012: Updated by Jodi Christman: Added description
  • March 19, 2012: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is likely doomed.

Sources 

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Comments 

Swatara Creek Bridge
Posted October 12, 2015, by Eric Kotzato (ekotzato [at] comcast [dot] net)

This bridge is now closed to all traffic, including pedestrian.

Swatara Creek Bridge
Posted June 7, 2012, by Upshur Whittock (zarzalzarzamora [at] yahoo [dot] com)

My grandfather, John M. Whittock, Sr., was a civil engineer who came to Hummelstown a little more than 100 years ago; the town hired him to build, among other things, this bridge over the Swatara. I hope there's a way to save it.