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College Avenue Bridge

Mercer County, Pennsylvania

Photos 

View Of East Elevation

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #217136

Map 

Description 

The College Avenue Bridge in Greenville, Pennsylvania, is a simple pony truss bridge that spans the Little Shenango River on the northern side of Greenville, providing access to the Shenango Valley Cemetery and Thiel College to the north. In the nineteenth century, the locale of the bridge was important as a milling center, and the Western (Beaver-Erie) Division of the Pennsylvania Canal crossed the site on the northern side of the river. A millrace led from the dammed pond upstream from the bridge to the mills downstream. In 1914, the Canton Bridge Company received a contract from Mercer County to erect 17 bridges. Eight of these were originally approved in 1913, but an expose of alleged bid-rigging caused the contracts to be voided. A year later, Canton Bridge won all the contracts awarded by the county by submitting the lowest bids on all projects. For the College Avenue site, Canton Bridge erected a pin-connected truss bridge that was designed by the county engineer. According to contemporary bridge design authorities, the riveted design should have been selected. The pin-connected design may have been chosen because it was less expensive than the rivet designs. Its seventy years of service have proven the choice to have been a good one.

- Historic American Engineering Record

Facts 

Overview
Lost Warren deck truss bridge over Little Shenango River on College Avenue (PA 18/58)
Location
Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Status
Replaced by new bridge
History
Built 1914 by the Canton Bridge Co.; replaced 1986
Builders
- Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio (Contractor)
- Hodge Manufacturing Co. (Railings)
- L.E. Burnside (County Engineer, bridge designer)
Design
Pin-connected Warren half-deck truss
Dimensions
Span length: 105.0 ft.
Total length: 105.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.40917, -80.38472   (decimal degrees)
41°24'33" N, 80°23'05" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/551424/4584362 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Greenville West
Inventory number
BH 49815 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1914 (819)
Built during 1910s (9,724)
Canton Bridge Co. (195)
Deck truss (1,769)
Greenville, Pennsylvania (4)
HAER documented (1,108)
Hodge Manufacturing Co. (1)
L.E. Burnside (1)
Lost (25,518)
Lost 1986 (166)
Lost during 1980s (1,422)
 Mercer County, Pennsylvania (71)
Owned by state (16,137)
Pennsylvania (5,372)
Pin-connected (3,958)
Replaced by new bridge (17,211)
Span length 100-125 feet (4,421)
Total length 100-125 feet (5,213)
Truss (33,237)
Warren deck truss (611)
Warren truss (6,649)

Update Log 

  • October 15, 2011: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • HAER PA-83 - College Avenue Bridge, Pennsylvania Route 58/ Legislative Route 82 spanning Little Shenango River, Greenville, Mercer County, PA

Comments 

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