Rating:
2 votes

Gay Street Bridge (1880)

Knox County, Tennessee

Photos 

File:Old-gay-street-bridge-1886-tn1

Library of Congress

View this photo at commons.m.wikimedia.org

BH Photo #292385

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Lost wooden Howe through truss bridge over Tennessee River on Gay Street
Location
Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
Status
Replaced by a new bridge
History
Built by GW Saulpaw 1880; Replaced by current bridge 1898
Builder
- G.W. Saulpaw
Design
Howe through truss accurately depicted by the 1886 sketch shown.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 185.0 ft.
Total length: 1,480.0 ft.
Deck width: 21.7 ft.
Also called
Saulpaw Bridge (1880)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.95860, -83.91487   (decimal degrees)
35°57'31" N, 83°54'54" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/237116/3983285 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Knoxville
Inventory number
BH 62671 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (9,020)
Built 1880 (203)
Built during 1880s (2,276)
G.W. Saulpaw (1)
Howe through truss (569)
Howe truss (712)
Knox County, Tennessee (59)
Knoxville, Tennessee (39)
Lost (29,914)
Lost 1898 (23)
 Lost during 1890s (215)
Replaced by new bridge (20,347)
Span length 175-250 feet (2,093)
Tennessee (1,270)
Tennessee River (47)
Through truss (17,794)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (2,020)
Truss (36,688)
Uncovered wooden truss (159)

Update Log 

  • July 12, 2015: Updated by Bob Davis: Added categories "Total length 1000-2500 feet", "Tennessee River"
  • August 26, 2014: Added by Dave King

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Saulpaw Bridge
Posted August 27, 2014, by Gene McCluney (gmacfilm [at] live [dot] com)

It is amazing how short the life span of an uncovered wood bridge was. 18 years! Hardly seems economical to have built them.