Zachary S

Alright so, after being restored and repaired in Florida, the bridge is apparently going to be reinstalled near its original location, so far presumed to be for vehicle traffic once more. I don't know how much historical integrity had to be compromised for its repair since it was claimed there was major damage that had to be repaired, but it has been repaired and is scheduled to be reinstalled sometime next year probably. A far better fate than many old rail-crossing road bridges.

Oh wow... nice catch. There's gotta be more of these scattered in the woods throughout the state that are impossible to see from satellite imagery/aerials

Well that's a damn shame. Too bad it's really difficult to preserve railroad-owned bridges on active lines; often nearly zero warning ahead of time and of course being a business their focus is, unfortunately but certainly understandably, on newer bridges for heavier loads and stack trains rather than historic preservation

Looks to have been replaced by a modern pony truss span very recently. There's just never any good news in these parts.

Tragically... new Google Earth update shows the spans gone, perhaps lost due to flooding, as the center pier is collapsed. Very, very unfortunate loss.

http://cullmantoday.com/2018/02/22/30-ton-big-rig-crumples-3-ton-bridge-on-county-road-821/

Well... As much as the bridge is unfit for vehicle traffic now due to damage, the collapse is not as total as I thought. One endpost may be toast and there is significant damage toward the middle but there is a lot to salvage. That said, the county plans on demolishing it and either abandoning the short road or building a new bridge. I guess I'll contact the county and plea for a careful removal and not a total demolition, as they insist repair cost is prohibitive...

News articles continue to insist it's Brown's Bridge that the county is adamant on replacing soon, but I can't help but wonder if they're actually referring to the Oakman-Parrish Road truss a bit to the east, that's been closed for a decade or more. Will change this one to doomed regardless, until I can make absolutely sure.

The road department is completely broke in Walker County though and they admit that a lot of replacement and rehab projects will be on hold for a long time. That is kind of a mixed blessing I guess with multiple abandoned trusses throughout, but not so great with the maintenance needed to keep them intact. They take good care of the Country Club Road bridge, oldest in the state still open to traffic though... so far. No plans to replace that I know of, a sort of historic marker, replaced approach guardrails, and relatively new paint. A few others however have been lost in the last decade.

Several bridges are on the state chopping block, but unless things change, there may be time to save the closed and abandoned ones in Walker County while the budget demands priorities elsewhere. I hope there's community support for that.

Welp. Count this as another one lost to an overloaded truck. THIRTY ton, fifty three foot Dollar General truck tried to cross, leading to at least a partial collapse. This was just today so no idea what happens next but... very unlikely to salvage. WHY. WHY ARE TRUCK DRIVERS LIKE THIS. UGGGHH

Highly unfortunate and disappointing; never got to go see this one though it's close by. These small bridges could be moved and saved far more easily than most, but seems like unless there's a major concerted community effort, there's not even a snowball's chance in hell. Though complicated, I'm sure, in this case by having to also talk with CSX in getting it moved since it was over their line. Even though long abandoned I can't say I am surprised; these wood overpasses are being removed at a very rapid rate. This is sad, because I quite like them.

Demolition should be nearly complete by now, was half removed back in November when I last went by - over the new bridge, for the first time. Was always a bit of a fun adventure to cross this one going to the mountains, and very frustrated it wasn't preserved as a walking bridge (there was quite a bit of support and a plan in the making) because of eleventh hour nonsense thrown in about its stability in case of a _10,000_ year flood. A small part might go toward building a bridge in a city park, but we'll see.

Very cool to find more info on this. I hadn't had much luck web searching or a chance to visit the area yet.

Have yet to notice an article specifically stating such, but in passing by lately I notice the bridge closed sign is gone. And as a recent newspaper photo regarding the January snow showed a recent picture of the bridge seemingly open to traffic (aside from the dicey travel days with snow and ice) with new guardrails on the approach, I'm assuming it's back open to traffic again now. Pretty good news there.

To be a bit of a devil's advocate, the average quality may have declined because intrepid bridgehunters have already added a large percentage of the truly historic and noteworthy bridges out there, the ones that are easy to find, and most new adds are the marginally historic ones left over after the best are on here.

There does need to be a minimum standard though and there are many questionable additions, numerous bridges I question the addition of. I am not hugely fond of most of the standardized concrete beams, slabs, and stringers etc even if they are rather old but I guess as long as their railings aren't hideous I guess that counts for something. When one county has twenty or so of them though, one must start questioning if they should _all_ be on here or not.

My thrill is searching aerial/satellite photos of old road or railroad alignments, rivers, etc for long abandoned trusses (or any bridge type really) that no one has noticed or posted about here yet. I've found several in AL, MS, and states northeast, and it's worth the hours of close searching just to find one, because then I can research it more closely knowing the location. It might get buried under a flood of marginal additions here, but the thrill of the hunt still makes it worth it.

Well, never mind the rehab and reopening... as of late last year VDOT claimed that the restoration work needed was far more extensive than thought, so it appears by photos that they thew up a new concrete eyesore in its place. The historic bridge is supposed to have been preserved elsewhere but I can't find an article that confirms if this actually happened.

That's true about the exhibit feature, it's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about and I do use it when my browser is being kind, haha. It's definitely possible to even do an aerial bridge hunt from there even if it's more difficult than on a standalone like Google Earth. But it's great for planning out places to visit for a bridge hunting expedition.

I've covered AL mostly but anywhere from MD and KY south and MS east, I've got on Google Earth and occasionally play around with. I've noticed aerial imagery seems to be updated more frequently on the east coast and east of the Mississippi in general. The foliage density definitely makes winter views a must though!