The 1928 date on this one is likely only for the approaches. This style of truss has been seen on other MKT lines in Missouri and dates to the late 1890s.
The abutments on each side of the creek are still standing (3 total). The tour guide at the Interurban Railway Museum in Downton Plano told us about this bridge. You can see the abutments from Spring Creek Trail near 911 location sign SC 113. Park in the parking lot at 101 W Renner Rd (see Google Maps) for very close access to trail. The map location from this site is accurate.
This vertical lift bridge was moved & put in place over Cedar Bayou in 1967. It was built by Virginia Bridge & Iron Company in 1912 over the St. Francis River at Cody, Lee County, Arkansas. I have searched extensively to find pictures of the bridge at its original location in Arkansas but find none. Looking for help with my search. Thanks! Attached is of the builders plaque and where the plaque is located.
here's that picture of the sky view on google earth
The bridge was definitely definitely built during the 80's. You can see from the sky view on Google Earth using the historical timeline view going back and comparing the 1989 view to the 1978 view that it was part of a road that was built during that time period. The road doesn't even show up on the historical aerial views in google earth until the 1989 photo.
Current photo of bridge relocated in 1993 to private property in Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas.
TXDOT photo showing recent flooding.
Details on the Flooding including footage can be found here. Warning: May be too graphic!
Link: https://bridgehunterschronicles.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/flo...
Loved this bridge painted Yellow... Wish they had left it that color!
Talked with a spokesman for TxDOT who relayed that the old bridge is being rehabilitated with a new deck and paint and will re-open for south bound traffic in Spring of 2019.
9/13/18
The bridge was rebuilt in 1944 and the piling were driven in by Herman Baass of Baass Brothers of VICTORIA Texas.
They received the contract due to the fact that Herman Baass had a pile driving skid rig large enough to cantilever the bent spacing. The bridge was built one bent at a time and the pile driving rig was then slid forward to drive the the next set of piling.
The piling were spliced due to the overall length of pile depth approximately 90’.
There are only a few piling left that are visible.
Allen Baass
A Baass construction & supply.
VICTORIA, Texas
I think a lot of the confusion over the 1988 design comes from the document the 2011 construction manager, BNSF Engineer, & the Engineer from the contractor published / presented.
They refer to the 1988 Bascule as a Scherzer. At the same time they note it was Designed & Built by American Bridge.
https://www.arema.org/files/library/2013_Conference_Proceedi...
By the way: The entire causeway is OWNED by the County of Galveston. It is leased to BNSF until 2110.
Jason, thank you for the information!
Last revenue service over this bridge was around 1990, after the south end was severed the Santa Fe obtained trackage rights from Dallas on the Missouri Pacific Railroad to access their customers around Chalk Hill, there was one customer left at the south end of this line near Cockrell Hill Rd. Around 1994 scrap thieves were stealing the rail and hardware from this section of track and were arrested when an observant person noticed them removing the rail from this bridge.
It was a very tall wooden trestle and one of the support structures was in the middle of Coombs Creek Rd. so the road split around each side of it. This bridge was severely burned and partially collapsed around 1986 ending rail traffic north from Westmoreland yard. For a few more years the Santa Fe came down from Chalk Hill (via Missouri Pacific trackage rights) to service one last customer north of Cockrell Hill Rd.
Brad, thanks for finding correct information, I've modified this entry to be for a long-demolished bridge and moved the postcard to the NB entry.
Actually this bridge was not replaced in 1964. When the new parallel bridge opened in 1958, this bridge (causeway) was closed and modified. This span originally had a drawbridge. The drawbridge was removed and a high span approximating the newer parallel span was built over the intercoastal waterway.
It was reopened in 1964 as the Northbound span and the 1958 span was the new Southbound span.
https://galveston.newspaperarchive.com/galveston-tribune/196...
Amanda Joy Mata. this may be bridge in your photo
Thank you for your work
Hello.
I am the guy who assisted in getting the Newcastle Bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The history of relocation is a little confusing to me here. All I know is per HAER, this bridge was moved to Travis County, and I found a bridge in Satellite imagery that appears to match the location described by HAER.
Unfortunately it appears to be behind a gated community or something. http://bridgehunter.com/tx/travis/bh82418/
Some of the original brick deck was reused on the bridge and nearby.
https://yourblvd.com/blog/revisit/rediscovering-yale-st-brid...
This bridge has indeed been replaced:
https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/12/12/inner-lo...
This bridge has been demolished and replaced. Looks identical though
Looking good in the summer of 2018!
According to http://phorum.dallashistory.org/read.php?2,92080,92088, a through truss, and based on https://books.google.com/books?id=zo5MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA414&dq=M..., built 1923.
The approximate coordinates of the NTTC bridge over the original Mountain Creek channel are: 32.746831, -96.926902. Road construction and flooding has resulted in the formation of relief channels in the area.
From Dallas the NTTC ran along the median of Jefferson Blvd to the western city limits. After the NTTC ceased operations Jefferson Blvd was extended westward along the abandoned NTTC right of way to the city of Grand Prairie. The dump through the bottoms was about 20 feet high. The postcard view may be this location.
The 1942 newspaper photo is of the Jefferson Blvd bridge which was built to replace the NTTC bridge. Best guess was originally a steel truss or girder but I do not have a photo or details.
M.C., do you know the GPS coords for the actual bridge over Mountain Creek?
Apparently this bridge is going to become a Texas landmark, albeit with the unfortunate misnomer of being named for a stream well to the west that was crossed by a truss, according to http://phorum.dallashistory.org/read.php?2,92080,92088
Yes, the bridge in those pictures is near 32.715912,-96.881384 on Google maps
M.C., it's a DART/BNSF (Ex-ATSF/GCSF) line to the south
This bridge is not the same as the listed bridge which is a concrete arch over Coombs Creek
Yours is a steel stringer on timber bents over a road or walking trail. Do you have the location of the one you photo'd? Is it an auto bridge or the abandoned railroad spur?
Here are recent photos of the Coombs Creek Bridge taken in 2018.
This was not a railroad bridge. The only railroad into Paint Rock TX was a line from Miles TX which crossed the river some distance west of here. The old pilings for the RR crossing are at (Google Map) coordinates 31.517182, -99.944371. The bridge supports shown in the article are likely from the old US 83 highway bridge; both it and the railroad crossing were washed out in a major flood in 1936.
The bridge has been demolished. They are in the process of building a new bridge.
high definition photo of this bridge, fully restored, is available on Canadian River page of Wikipedia. Someone more familiar with this site can probably upload, be sure to give credit of this pic to photographer Bill Hathorn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_River#/media/File:Woo...
New bridge being constructed just east of this bridge
Sad to say, we visited this bridge in May of 2018 and its days are numbered. A replacement bridge is being constructed immediately to the east, and this bridge will be removed. It is not known whether it will be eligible for "adoption" and removal to another location.
The Historic Bridge Foundation stated that the bridge came from County Road 469 over Cottonwood Creek in Hillsboro County. That might refer to this bridge: http://bridgehunter.com/tx/hill/91100AA0482001/
The Historic Bridge Foundation provided information indicating that this bridge was relocated to this location ca. 2005.
Historic, considering it was bypassed in 1950
? Significance?
I visited this bridge on 5-25-18. It is currently closed to vehicular traffic and only open to pedestrians.
NBI lists this as Bennett St, but it's actually Old Falls Rd
Looks to me like this bridge replaced a previous girder bridge, probably in the past decade
It's nice to see that the campground is making use of it, thus helping with preservation.
That helps, a lot. Thanks.
Walter,
No need to apologize. Without your pictures we'd have nothing to discuss.
The thickness of the members usually has more to do with how much load the bridge is designed to carry. A Whipple is also known as a double intersection Pratt. This simply means the tension members (the really thin pieces) diagonally cross two panels. On a Pratt, these diagonal tension members simply cross one panel (they don't pass a vertical element).
In your pictures, you can see that the thin diagonal pieces run from one panel point (joint) diagonally to the next.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Art S.
Art, I'm sorry, I'm not very knowledgeable in bridges. I found this link and went by the pictures:
http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/env/historic-bridg...
By this document I figured it might be Whipple because, according to the pictures, the framing is thinner than on the Pratt.
Is this the bridge that is lying in a field near Wheeler Branch Lake? 32.26646, -97.76941
Walter - If you compare the maps cited in an earlier comment you can see that a good part of the old road alignment is still discernable and in use. It ran basically parallel on the east side of the creek north of the bridge and along the west side of the creek south of the bridge.
Walter,
Your pictures seem to show a five panel Pratt truss. I'd guess it's a little later - 1900 - 1915 would be my thought.
Great pics BTW.
Regards,
Art S.
It appears to be a Whipple through truss. My limited research suggests it was built between 1860 and 1890. It's hard to imagine that it was once part of FM 973 since it runs perpendicular to the current highway route.
This crossing is on the map in 1904 and remains in 1950. The new alignment shows on the next map, dated 1984.
Looking at the NBI listings for the replacement bridge on the new alignment, a slab was built in 1950 and it was replaced in 2002 with the present bridge.
This bridge may not have closed immediately after it was bypassed but it may not have remained in use for long.
I am staying at the RV park located just south of this bridge. My daughter and I came upon it as we were exploring the park. All that remains is the metal framing. The RV park has built a wooden "fishing dock/observation area" using the west side of the bridge. I couldn't find a road for the bridge which seemed odd to me and is what made me curious enough to research it's history and why the bridge is there. I'm guessing, at one time an old dirt or county road was there.
Needs paint as protection so that it isn't mistaken for a bridge that needs replacing.
Photos taken April 2018
Photos taken April 2018.
Nice Shots, Thanks for sharing.
Photos taken April 2018
Photos taken April 2018
Photos taken April 2018.
I took this photo of the bridge on Apri1 8, 2018.
no access to public but can be seen from old entrance.
Unusual railing design.
Hello Doug
I used a 300mm lens, from 1st street, west of the bridge and the pedestrian bridge east of the bridge. However you can get much closer to the bridge, including the portals.
Royce
Hi. I'm going to be in this area soon and want to photograph Amtrak crossing this bridge.
Of the photos taken from the east side of the RR bridge, what type of zoom lens did you use?
I have a 200 mm and am wondering if that would bring the bridge close enough from the 1st Street bridge.
Thanks for your help
Needed: Good home for historic Central Texas bridge
http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Needed--Good-home-for-histo...
I'm thinking the pin connected trusses on this span are more of an 1890s design, not 1917. Thoughts?
It's a standardized bridge design, so the image is more than likely of one in Kearnes county.
I have attached a picture taken of a bridge in Texas during a flood in early 1947 or late 1946. The picture was developed in Feb 1947. I had always thought that this bridge was somewhere in Karnes County (possibly over the San Antonio River). But after viewing pictures of the Guadalupe River Bridge, I'm wondering if this is a picture of that bridge instead. Any thoughts? Thanks, Lori
Eligibility report attached.
Being retired, replaced and 'monumented' meaning the deck and approaches removed and the remains stabilized:
https://www.news-journal.com/news/state/bosque-county-histor...
Out of the dirt. Definitely caused damage being in the dirt.
This lift starts soon.
When was bridge built/erected?
It was definitely a cool bridge, as is the other one. Thanks for the info.
Yes, a variant of the Turner... the opinion of engineers was that it was not a "true" Turner truss, but it was a polygonal Warren truss with Turner-like characteristics. Either way, an unusual design.
So I guess this might have been another of that Turner style?
The resemblance is striking! Didn't realize that company built more than one bridge of this unusual design.
Hmm... This looks a lot like the Meridian Street bridge that got put in storage in Washington.
I would like to have one or two of those bricks.
It got replaced the other day
It's a Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad trestle.
What is the bridge that is farther east of the TE Culvert? Is that bridge also a Texas Electric bridge or is that a railroad bridge?
This is the extant concrete south abutment for the Texas Electric Railway.
There are other extant cut limestone abutments on the railroad.
The old through truss looks like the typical Phoenix-built Pratts the SP loved to use.
The railroad was constructed ca 1872-1873 for the Houston and Texas Central to connect Dallas with the MKT at Red River. I suspect the 1914 bridge was built on the original stone abutments when the line was upgraded.
Right next to this bridge the Texas Electric Railway crossed the creek on a pony truss on concrete abutments built about 1908. The Interurban bridge was removed when operations ceased about 1945.
This ca 1910 postcard view is facing south.
More than likely the latter. Railroads reused substructures all the time.
It seems odd to have stone abutments and/or piers on a bridge of 1914. Cement had been standard for at least a decade.
Two ideas. This bridge could have been moved from another location and placed on existing stone work or this bridge could be a replacement for another earlier one on this site.
TxDOT and the City of Waxahachie are planning an expansion on Business US 77. This bridge is slated to be destroyed and new, wider (and uglier) one is to replace it.
Latest article on the issue. I did not get to attend this meeting.
http://www.waxahachietx.com/news/20170726/waxahachie-city-co...
Thank you for posting this information for all to find! I went to this bridge today looking for history and was amazed at the limestone at the base and the size of the blocks. Not knowing anything about the bridge then, it is nice to now know some of its history thanks to this article. Thanks again!
Appears the pages have been merged
A big thank you to Spicer Sigman for providing photos and for the tremendous effort in saving this beauty. The fact that it was hot riveted during its restoration goes well beyond what we see in most restorations.
Hats off to you sir!
I moved this bridge from the Hondo Creek to our ranch in 2003. The county was going to demolition it and I couldn't bare to see it wasted. It is a lenticular truss, so we hired Dodson House Moving and Alamo Crane to pick the bridge up on both ends at the same time. We then roaded the bridge to the ranch and placed it on awaiting concrete abutments. We spent the next year or so removing the cancerous lattice work and replacing it with newly fabricated steel. The entire bridge was hot-riveted, so it took a while to return it to its original form.
After sandblasting and repainting the entire bridge with a primer and two part epoxy, we installed new wood flooring as it was originally intended and drive across it daily. I will upload pictures soon.
Who was the Causeway named for?
Thanks,
MC
