Hyner Bridge October 1930
it was.
Photo #3 looks like a different bridge.
As per an article printed on 9-14-18 in the Reading Eagle this bridge will reopen in May of 2019,not November of 2018 as originally planned which means that this project took a year to complete,not 6 months.During excavation,crews discovered the soil would not provide the desired bearing capacity to support the footers for the new bridge.Alfred A. Picca,pennDOT assistant district executive for construction,said in a press release."This requires some additional design work,as well as having the contractor constructing subfooters to provide additional support for the bridge".This project cost nearly $2.5 million.Detours are still in place.
Just saw on ABC channel 6 t.v. out of Philadelphia that this bridge is reopened and that repairs are done.
Being disassembled and moved to Elizabethtown for preservation:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=412121495982893&...
It may also be in red in the map on this page, but it's difficult to tell for sure.
Scottdale had both passenger and freight stations at the time, so maybe the passenger trains followed this ROW? Just guessing.
Looks like there was an old ROW that entered Scottdale on the west side of Jacobs Creek and possibly crossed a small bridge on the south side of Scottdale at 40.094492, -79.591247
possibly an old interurban railroad. Some of the old track is visible on the south side of Scottdale if you turn the Google Earth clock back to 2005.
Guess late 1800's until ~1945.
I attached a screen pic from Earth 2005 with the ROW in blue.
Also, Jacobs Creek appears to be the county line, so this bridge looks to be in two counties.
According to old maps from HistoricAerials and this: http://www.trainweb.org/chris/swpenn.html
This may have been built in 1871 for the Mt Pleasant and Broad Ford Railroad, which eventually became the Mt. Pleasant Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Possibly an old rail ROW went across the bridge up the west side of Scottdale. If so, build date same as the railroad?
The stone in this bridge is in great shape.
I am seeking the date of construction. It almost surely predates the founding of Scottdale, 1874.
Any help would be appreciated.
Might be worth a Visit!
As for the previous comment there may be inaccuracies which I don't know about.I'm just posting what is printed in the local paper.
Me and my fiancée travelled over this bridge on both the outbound and inbound lanes yesterday.The outbound lane is finished and now the work begins on the inbound lane.The ornate railing along with the obelisk are on the outbound side of the bridge.Of course the railing was created to match the original railing along with the lookouts and lighting which is almost exactly like the original lighting.The median at the present time is removed and is now a cattleshute if anybody knows what that is.I read in this past Wednesdays Reading Eagle a history of this bridge from the very beginning.In 1795 when George Washington was president and the Schuylkill River was named Hidden Creek according to the Pennsylvania Dutch a ferryboat was the only way to get goods and people across to the foot of Penn Street.This was the only convenient place to cross the river,upstream or downstream for over 70 years previously.Crossing the river was dangerous at this time due to no dams on the river.3 women and a young girl drowned in a ferry capsizing in 1800.In 1795 $32,000 which was allocated to build a bridge was deemed insufficient.A lottery was ordered to raise $60,000 which failed.The second attempt at building a bridge was in 1801 when a wooden bridge was to be built at a cost of $16,000 which failed with the builder only laying the piers.In 1805 a third unsuccessful attempt was made.In 1812 authorization was made to build a stone or wooden bridge and charge a toll to pay for it.On December 20,1815 a wooden bridge opened for travel.Tolls were footman 1 cent;every 20 sheep,20 cents;every 20 swine,10 cents;every 20 cattle,20 cents;horse or mule,4 cents;sulky with 2 wheels and 1 horse,12 1/2 cents;horse and rider,6 cents;carriage with 2 horses,25 cents;carriage with 4 horses,37 1/2 cents;stagecoach with 2 horses,25 cents;stagecoach with 4 horses,30 cents;sleigh and horse,6 cents;draft sleigh and horse,5 cents and wagon or cart and horse,6 cents.This bridge has to be the covered bridge I saw pictures of.in 1884 the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad Co. built a 3-span iron bridge with a 924-foot-long-viaduct which replaced the previous bridge.This bridge cost the railroad $100,000 to build and the county commissioners put up $30,000.The current bridge was dedicated on May 22,1914.
As of 8-30-18 this bridge is now open after repairs according to the Reading Eagle.This bridge is 43 years old and 460 feet long,2 12-foot lanes with a daily vehicle traffic of 7,300.These figures are printed in the paper so I don't know if they're reliable or not.By the way,this project cost a total of $6.9 million.
Man I hate to ask but does a Tunnel consist of one hole or TWO! Internet debate regarding straws same question of no help.
Funicular
This bridge has been replaced and is now open for traffic as of earlier this week.The single-span bridge,built in 1926 and rebuilt in 1956 with an average daily traffic volume of 3,589 vehicles was replaced with a precast concrete box culvert.Also roadway approach and drainage work were performed along with sanitary sewer line relocation and guardrail replacement.The total cost was $516,642 for the whole project which finished before September,the anticipated completion.
How might one see that obit?
There's an online obituary for the guy who had previously commented about growing up close to the bridge.
Daniel, do you have news?
RIP Dick Stevens
That was my suspicion. Some of her comments still plague this site.
Timestamp matches up with when she was pestering the site.
Of course, we are assuming that this is the same Amanda...
Someone goofed, most likely. I've corrected it
Why is this bridge listed as Closed? It is open to automotive traffic for many years now.
You can't really stir the pot when there's a unanimous dislike for a troll that wasted a lot of time and bandwidth. Not just here, but on Wikipedia, which they'd been IP banned from multiple times.
If you're going to stir the shit pot, Anonymous, don't forget to lick the spoon
Please disregard anything that was posted by Amanda or any of her retarded sock puppets. Her posts consisted primarily of copyrighted material that she had no right to post along with a bunch of outright lies. She has been banned for good reason.
So the original bridge is still up? Was really hoping to see it before it gets needlessly destroyed!
I’m guessing this bridge is older than 1950. Possibly closer to 1890.
Hi. You can post my photos. I hope someone on the site can give me some info about when this bridge was built and the name of it.
Thank you for your help.
Lynn Glace
This bridge remains indefinitely closed to all traffic including pedestrians, except for emergency vehicles. Detours are posted to the Cocherton-Damascus Bridge and the Narrowsburg-Darbytown Bridge.
I have not heard of any plans to demolish this bridge, which is fortunate given that this is Pennsylvania... however given that the bridge is indefinitely closed I wouldn’t be surprised if PennDOT deliberately does not maintain it and then uses that as an excuse to demolish this beautiful bridge a few years down the road.
I tried to get out to this bridge to do a field visit but the approach road is completely barricaded on both sides, including up to the curbs so that pedestrians can’t go around the barriers without trespassing on the front lawns of at least one business and one resident. Nice job, PennDOT. You’ve successfully kept all people away from this bridge so that now you can quietly let it rot away and then demolish it and replace it with a UCEB like you’re doing to the Pond Eddy Bridge.
This bridge is actually the last known remaining underspanned suspension bridge in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underspanned_suspension_bridge
The HAER Documentation (attached) provides explanation. It is both aesthetic and also for reducing dead weight. In a sense you might think of an open spandrel arch bridge versus a closed spandrel arch. Perhaps bridges such as these were the first attempts to reduce the amount of material needed in an arch. As the documentation correctly notes, other examples of similar arch bridges (albeit often with half-circle openings) can be found overseas. I am aware of examples in Europe and China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Diable_(C%C3%A9ret) http://armchairtravelogue.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-bridges-...
I’ve never seen pierced spandrels like this, so I can’t comment to the true reasoning behind them. However, they could possibly be purely decorative, or reduce the total dead load on the arches by reducing the amount of material supported.
Lynn Glace, Believe this is bridge you mentioned, I know little history but RR experts on site may be of assistance. If you give permission Im sure someone could add your photos credited to you. thanks for sharing!
This mornings paper where I live has a picture of this bridge on the front page concerning fishing on the schuylkill river.My fiancee asked me about the pierced spandrels which I told her i don't know why they were built into the bridge.Out of curiosity does anybody know why there are pierced spandrels built into this bridge and if it's for structural integrity?
According to "Seeing Lancaster Count's Covered Bridges" by E. Gipe Caruthers, this bridge "Until 1916, crossed the Conestoga about a mile downstream, at which a new concrete span was built. [This would be at present crossing of North Farmersville Road.] Instead of scrapping this one, a local man named Joseph Shirk had it moved here where there was only a fording."
This is a duplicate of http://bridgehunter.com/pa/philadelphia/bh46188/
I see Google must be doing new maps because I just looked on Google satellite while looking at a business site near this bridge and I see this bridge is removed.I will post anything I receive newswise about this bridge when I get it.
This bridge was demolished on 8/5/18.
just read in the Reading Eagle today that beginning August 6th this bridge will be closed for replacement until December 2019.This bridge which was originally 25 feet wide and 253 feet long will be replaced with a precast concrete beam span that will be 34 feet wide and 268 feet long.Preliminary work began in February with intermittent lane closures.The $3.7 million project includes drainage,curb and sidewalk repair and accessibility ramps.This project was originally slated to be completed in August 2019.Removal of a UGI gas line from the bridge was held up by a permit needed from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to bore under the Schuylkill River to place the new pipeline.Daily average traffic volume is 1,270 vehicles.Detours will be in effect while the bridge is being replaced.
Yes, the bridge is spelled like that on the sign overhead, and one news article calls this Black Creek and another one Hazle Creek. Either way its a riveted pony truss at risk for demolition. https://www.tnonline.com/weatherly-close-unsafe-pedestrian-b...
Sign for road traffic says Clearance 11', 8"
Sandy is a short form of Alexander, so maybe it's the same guy.
I remember a guy in Selinsgrove named "Sandy Mitchell", that was a while ago. Wonder if they know each other?
Evan,you are correct about the r.r. company that operated this rail line.If you need proof check out the Whitford Flyover bridge also on this abandoned rail line.That one's also PRR.By the way,you mentioned another rail line abandoned north of where this bridge is.Are you talking where the trail is?
I believe this bridge was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad freight bypass line to Trenton, NJ, not the Reading Railroad. The Reading had a branch line that crossed Route 100 at grade approximately 1/2 mile north of this bridge.
Am I missing something here? If this bridge crosses a state line, then would it not cross the county line as well? I don't understand why this category was removed.
I have carefully perused the right-of-way maps of the Thruway project, and the bridge and the property to which it belongs lie outside, but extremely close to, the project boundaries. The more interesting question becomes whether the property/bridge's owner will remain after completion of the highway project in a couple years' time.
This news article has video showing the new bridge. YUCK!!!! It is the ugliest truss bridge I have ever seen. Massive solid steel beams will block views of the river and be a scar on the landscape forever... or at least for the 25 years that this modern bridge probably will last. The historic bridge was so beautifully delicate that it blended in with the natural environment indeed almost disappearing in photos taken from some angles. It is a sad loss of a very important historic bridge, and a sad destruction of what was once one of the most beautiful river settings I had ever seen. https://wnep.com/2018/07/09/progress-on-pond-eddy-bridge/
Nathan,
They recently implemented this but still have two lanes and you still pass cars on the bridge. The problem is there is a poor staging area on the NJ side.
What surprised me was that Carlton is considerably wider yet is still a single lane.
Regards,
Art S.
Art,
With modern traffic ITS systems I suspect the bridge could operate with similar efficiency with stoplight controlled one-lane configuration (given how slow people drive on the bridge in 2 lane config), the only issue might be backups at the light causing a problem. The 1,000+ foot Connel Bridge in Scotland has surprisingly short wait times at the light and nobody seemed too irritated by it. However, the Washington Crossing Bridge may be more busy.
http://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=un...
Found this video - Not sure this should be bi directional.
Karen,do you want to go to the bridge?
Should make a separate page for the other bridge in photo 4 (BH 158229).
Royce
Karen, scroll down on the page to the section "map links" I think the default is to use Google maps, but there are other choices. Note the location, or save the location, or possibly even use the latitude/longitude values to have a GPS navigation guide you while you drive.
How do I find this bridge to take a picture of it?
Photos of the original bridge that burned in 1924 can be seen here.
www.flickr.com/photos/rich701/albums/72157650028289319
Any of these photos can be used with just attribution.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-bethlehem-musik...
Looking to dispose of it
Hope its still in storage
Having waited two years for a report that this bridge was finally re-located to the Waterworks Park in Bethlehem, I decided it was time for a look-see. What a disappointment to see they welched the deal and put in a modern truss replacement. Too bad!
This bridge is still but blocked off to all traffic
Photo #2, BH404942, is not of this bridge
Any one know the status of this one?
Plate girders have been replaced, bents remain original. Abutment dated 1909
Also,Dana and Kay I'll see if I can get a look at this bridge being that there's alot of brush around it.Might be a good time to check it out in the winter when the brush is down.
Dana and Kay,I mentioned the bridge you're talking about on Bridgehunters last year around this time of the year.I think it was determined to be a mail order bridge being that it wasn't too old.Also the trail it's on is the Thun trail.
George Just East of Here is a trail bridge. Any idea if its old and reused or maybe a Mail order bridge? Cant tell from Sat Views
Just read in today's Reading Eagle about this bridge.This bridge will be removed this summer and the demolition permit prohibits any work from Oct.1 to Dec.31 because of trout activity in Wyomissing Creek at that time.Sealed bids are being taken at this time for removal of this structurally deficient bridge which was built in 1961.According to the article most of the deficiencies are underneath the bridge deck itself.Now here's the kicker.The borough of West Reading wants to replace this bridge with a pedestrian walkway.Can't wait to see this!By the way,I was wrong about the N/S overpass running parallel to Wyomissing Creek.It actually crosses over Wyomissing Creek and over Old Wyomissing Road.
I grew up on this bridge; became a Man & played like a Boy. It was perfectly falling into beautiful Ruins - vintage Craftsmanship beside 80's graffiti; stone & wood as solid as the day it was laid seamlessly blending with the pockets of Beautiful Decay.
This Bridge WAS perfect. This Bridge WAS Wabi-Sabi; a Masterpiece of Transience and a Monument to Perfectly Imperfect Beauty.
Now, the Spirit is gone. There is nothing left save Sterility, Lifelessness, and a sad, un-recreation which invokes all the Realism & Soul of a Disney ride.
Good bye, Old Friend. Thanks for everything.
Looks like a beam bridge with a railing
Trust your opinion Clark, thanks for taking a look.
If you are referring to the bridge to the SW, zoomed street view and from above makes me think strictly modern footbridge.
I see it George. Eyes are no longer acute enough to tell if its an old repurposed bridge or a not notable footbridge. Maybe another bridgehunter can discern what it may be. Good eye to spot it George.
That's the bridge,Dana and Kay.I noticed also a bridge over the Antietam Creek behind the house.Might be a foot bridge.Don't know.
George this MAY be Bridge Mentioned in Reading Eagle. Not in NBI but sounds like description. What do you think?
Thanks for making the journey Brian, these Tee Beams are RAPIDLEY disappearing. NBI says 1929 plaque 1926. Curious as to why.
CNJ
For now I simply renamed this bridge's builder from "West Penn Bridge Co" to "Penn Bridge Co." In reality I suspect there is some cleanup that needs to be done, as any bridge built before 1887 was technically part of a company formally organized as "Timothy B. White & Sons Company", often listed as "T. B. White and Sons of New Brighton, Pennsylvania", and often branded in literature and builder plaques as "Penn Bridge Works" with the company becoming "Penn Bridge Company in 1887. Yet just like King Iron Bridge Company and King Bridge Company, these are all the same people/company.
Whoops, wrong bridge, non historic, not significant. COOL shot of deer in street view. Will delete...
Center post encased in concrete. Overall good shape except for the damn roadway...grated decking goes, stringers go .....
Julie thanks! glad to see this may find a care taker.
We got the call. Headed there today and a meeting tomorrow. So sure you can google Bach but getting these bridges thru bureaucracy has to happen before Nels and the Gang can work on them.
NBI doesn't go back that far, need someone with PENNDOT research capabilities. Anyone?
You are correct,Dana and Kay.According to my fiancee who was born and raised here near where the bridge is located told me that this bridge replaced the previous bridge.She didn't remember if the previous bridge was a truss or concrete bridge.Is there any way to find out about the previous bridge?
George looks like Bridge in Reading Eagle. Wonder if predecessor was Hurricane Agnes Casualty in '72.
This bridge will remain closed until they do the full rehab in 2019.
http://cumberlink.com/news/local/hertzler-bridge-to-remain-c...
Good information about it's history but two notes. It's not technically owned by Amtrak they only own the east abutment, NS actually owns the west abutment and the structure of the bridge was donated to the capital area transit authority in the 1990s and they currently own the majority of the bridge. The other note I have is about it potentially becoming part of the corridor one commuter rail. The idea has been floated, but because of how the ownership is currently, that deal would require the approval of both railroads and for MTA to be able to afford any repairs or upgrades on the bridge. Since both railroads on either side are currently active, increased foot traffic in areas around the tracks are a major liability to them, and the current condition of the walnut st. bridge implies the city isn't exactly rolling in dough. I would say there's little to no chance of that ever panning out.
Dana and Kay,this is the bridge listed in the paper I read yesterday.I've been over this bridge many times over the past years and don't see any structural deterioration up on the surface.Probably underneath.Don't know the build date on this bridge.That might have something to do with it.
George this may be one being replaced per Reading Eagle article.
Just read in todays Reading Eagle that work on this bridge will be completed by August 26.A new concrete center pier has been poured and its end piers will be done next.New support beams should arrive by mid-June according to what I read in the article.Any further information I will post here.
Do you know when the bridge will be inspected, and are plans to repair it or close it, I own a cabin in mayburg. Thanks
Mystery Bridge upstream from here south of Niobe NY Chautauqua county
That's how I found it then, on Nathan's historicbridges. Maybe never posted our pictures or interest here, just visited when we were in Titusville doing a site vist in S. Perry Street or should that be Oil Creek Bridge. FASCINATING.
Name is the same as it was on January 4th, 2010:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100104092612/https://bridgehun...
I don't think it was changed. HAER lists it as Pine Creek Bridge At Messerall Road. Historicbridges.org lists it as Messerall Road Bridge. The original entry was probably based on the HAER data.