Rating:
2 votes

Cowan Road Bridge

Ellis County, Texas

Photos 

Cowan Road Mill Creek Bridge

Photo taken by Scott Wiley 02/12/11

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BH Photo #193493

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Pony truss bridge over Mill Creek on Cowan Road
Location
Ellis County, Texas
Status
Closed
Future prospects
Appears to have been heavily damaged.
History
Built 1930
Design
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 49.9 ft.
Total length: 62.0 ft.
Deck width: 11.8 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+32.17611, -96.98917   (decimal degrees)
32°10'34" N, 96°59'21" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
14/689586/3561728 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Italy
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
10
Inventory numbers
TXNBI 180710AA0265001 (Texas bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 32976 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of March 2013)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 17 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1930 (1,655)
Built during 1930s (10,820)
Closed (2,480)
Doomed (1,046)
Ellis County, Texas (47)
One-lane traffic (7,462)
Owned by county (19,126)
Pony truss (15,198)
Span length 25-50 feet (13,971)
 Structurally deficient (18,402)
Texas (2,298)
Total length 50-75 feet (8,621)
Truss (29,906)
Warren pony truss (2,979)
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals (511)
Warren truss (5,926)
Wooden deck (5,914)

Update Log 

  • April 30, 2012: Updated by Tony Dillon: To be replaced per forum posting.
  • February 12, 2011: New photos from Scott Wiley

Sources 

  • Scott Wiley - fifty [dot] fathoms [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted April 29, 2012, by Tom Andrews (t_a_rantula [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Found a press release from Ellis County dated January 23, 2012 saying this bridge is scheduled to be replaced.

http://co.ellis.tx.us/archives/37/commissioners%20court%20re...

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted April 29, 2012, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Looks like it had some help...if you want to call it that!

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted April 29, 2012, by Tom Andrews (t_a_rantula [at] hotmail [dot] com)

More photos

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted April 29, 2012, by Tom Andrews (t_a_rantula [at] hotmail [dot] com)

The bridge is closed. It has either collapsed or has been taken down.

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted February 13, 2011, by Scott Wiley (fifty [dot] fathoms [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Great info Anthony. Thanks!

Cowan Road Bridge
Posted February 13, 2011, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This span appears to exhibit all elements of truss connection. The diagonal eyebars on the outer panels are pin connected at the upper chord/endpost, which are in turn joined together by gusset plates which feature rivets and bolts. The vertical/chord connections have no pins but are also joined with gusset plates riveted and bolted together.

Although many of the bolts appear to have been replaced, it is likely that this little bridge was partially riveted in the shop and then bolted together at the site.