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Valley Green Road Bridge

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
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Photo 

ValleyGreen Road Bridge - March 13, 2009

Overview

Photo taken by Raymond Klein

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Description 

FROM THE 1996-2001 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORIC BRIDGE SURVEY: The 3-span, 174'-long pin connected Pratt pony truss bridge was fabricated in 1884 by John Denithorne. It is supported on stone abutments, a stone pier and a reinforced concrete pier that dates from 1953. The upper chords and inclined end posts are angles with laced webs as are the verticals. The ends of the verticals have pin plates, and the outriggers are original. The mature design shows great understanding of economy of design and how trusses work on the part of a regional fabricator. The bridge is historically and technologically significant based on its design, date of construction, and completeness.

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Facts 

Overview
Pony truss bridge over Wissahickon Creek on Valley Green Road in Whitemarsh Township
Location
Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1884; rehabilitated 1953
Builder
- John Denithorne & Sons of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Design
Pratt pony truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 57.1 ft.
Total length: 183.1 ft.
Deck width: 18.7 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Wissahickon Creek Bridge
West Valley Green Road Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.11288, -75.21909   (decimal degrees)
40°06'46" N, 75°13'09" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/499146/4429237 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Germantown, PA
Inventory numbers
PA 46 7046 0620 0059 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 27948 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 31409 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 07/2009)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 2.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 1977)
1,450

Categories 

19th Century (3,822)
Built 1884 (99)
Built during 1880s (1,045)
Have street view (9,896)
John Denithorne & Sons (3)
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (159)
NR-eligible (3,748)
Open (28,314)
Owned by county (16,489)
 Pennsylvania (3,038)
Pony truss (13,217)
Pratt pony truss (2,342)
Pratt truss (5,660)
Span length 50-75 feet (6,996)
Structurally deficient (16,680)
Total length 175-250 feet (2,789)
Truss (23,574)
Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania (2)

Update Log 

  • December 25, 2011: Updated by Jodi Christman: Added builder and description
  • March 16, 2009: New photo from Raymond Klein

Sources 

  • Raymond Klein - Bookshelfthe [at] msn [dot] com
  • Jodi Christman - masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com
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Comments 

Valley Green Road Bridge
Posted September 26, 2010, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

A beautiful span indeed!.....surprised PennDOT has kept their grimey little paws off of it......

Valley Green Road Bridge
Posted September 26, 2010, by Jodi Christman

Awesome to see this bridge. I grew up 2 houses away from it. I remember folks getting stuck on the bridge when Hurricane Floyd came through and flooded the heck out of the area.