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Jordan Bridge

East Approach

Photo taken by C Hanchey in December 2008

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Brief History

From the City of Chesapeake "Decommissioning the Jordan Bridge" brochure

Originally known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bridge, the bridge was completed at a cost of $1.25 million, and opened on August 24, 1928 as a toll bridge.

It is a Waddell & Harrington vertical lift drawbridge and was designed by Harrington, Howard, & Ash of Kansas City, Missouri. The construction was planned and financing organized by Carl M. Jordan, who operated Jordan Brothers Lumber Co. with his brother Wallace. The bridge was renamed for Carl Jordan many years later. He also served as general manager and executive vice president of the South Norfolk Bridge Commission, Inc. Ownership of the bridge was transferred to the City of Chesapeake after the Bridge Commission's indebtedness was satisfied in 1977.

In 2008, approximately 7,000 vehicles used the bridge daily. More than 10,000 lifts a year occurred for over 21,500 marine traffic vessels. In March 2008 an inspection was conducted and report findings indicated the need for repairs would total more than $4 million. The bridge was closed to traffic on November 8, 2008. When the bridge was closed, it had a posted weight limit of only 3 tons.

Facts

Overview: Lost vertical lift bridge over South Branch Elizabeth River on VA 337 in Portsmouth
Location: Chesapeake, Virginia, and Portsmouth, Virginia
Status: Bridge has been removed
History: Built 1928 by the Atlantic Bridge Co.; Closed 2008; Removed 2010
Builders: - Atlantic Bridge Co. of Greensboro, North Carolina
- Harrington, Howard and Ash (Designer)
- Waddell & Harrington
Design: Vertical lift main span with Warren truss approach spans
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 284.1 ft.
Total length: 2,050.0 ft. (0.4 mi.)
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 9.0 ft.
Recognition: Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called: Norfolk-Portsmouth Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude: +36.80857, -76.29108 (decimal degrees)
36°48'31" N, 76°17'28" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/384914/4074385 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map: Norfolk South
Inventory numbers: VA 21931 (Virginia bridge number)
BH 33648 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 02/2007): 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: 4.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 1996): 3,776

Update Log

October 2, 2012: New photo from Jann Mayer
July 13, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added designer
April 24, 2011: Updated by C Hanchey: Bridge was removed in 2010
February 25, 2009: Essay added by C Hanchey

Sources

C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
Jann Mayer - jannmayer [at] gmail [dot] com

Comments

Jordan Bridge over South Branch Elizabeth River

Posted July 6, 2009, by bozeman (g [dot] bozeman [at] att [dot] net)

Nice work, I'm from this area.

But, the bridge in the first picture with the aircraft carrier visable on the far side is not the Jordan bridge. It is actually the Belt Line Railroad bridge located just north of the Jordan. The picture appears to have been taken from the Jordan Bridge's east side. The two bridges appear similar but the Railroad bridge has flat topped fixed sections while the Jordan's are slightly arched.