Historic Bridges of the U.S. | Viaduct Road Bridge

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Photos

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The West face

The bridge is built with two distinctly different types of stone, limestone and sandstone, note the change in colors. It was built in 1881 by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and modified in 1896. (The datestone on this side reads, "1896" while the datestone on the east side reads, "1881.") Heavy wing walls on both sides reinforce the structure.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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Linestone Ashlar

Note the grooves, indicating power drills used in the quarrying process to allow blasting the rock free.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The west datestone

The east datestone reads, "1881." The bridge was widened in 1896 to allow building a double-track mainline, which also explains different dates. The second track has since been removed.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The change from limestone to sandstone.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The keystone

The arch springs two feet from grade then rises 12 feet over a 24 foot span.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The Vault

Although it is not obvious in the photos, there is a distinct line that indicates where stone was added in 1896 to widen the bridge. The stones are of a different color from those quarried 15 years earlier.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The East Portal

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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The East Face

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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Military Road Marker - Trivia Alert!

Located just east of the subject bridge, the Military Road connected Fort Howard in Green Bay and Fort Crawford in Prarie du Chien. Fort Crawford was the location of extensive research into the human digestive process between 1829-1831. Alexis St. Martin suffered a gunshot wound that left a flap in his stomach wall, allowing Dr. William Beaumont to observe the digestive process by inserting a tube into St. Martin's stomach. Today, the Military Road is most closely followed by US 151 but not that close.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2008

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Map

Vicinity Map

Vicinity map

Map links:

Facts

Overview: Stone arch bridge over Viaduct Road on UPRR (formerly C&NW)
Location: Dane County, Wisconsin
Status: Open to traffic
Design: Rock-faced, coursed ashlar, limestone and sandstone bridge with heavily battered wing walls at the four corners. It has a single semi-circular arch built with limestone voussoirs. The bridge was widened about 20' in 1896 to accomodate dual tracks, now a single track. Imperfections in the arch vault show where stone was added at that time. Springing about 2 feet above grade, the arch rises to a 12' clearance above a 24' span. The bridge is about 37' long and is about 47' wide. It is one of a handful of sandstone arch bridges, built by the C&NW that is extant.
This bridge is related to the Bram Street Bridge in Madison, as a contemporary that is built of the same materials about the same time on the same line that ran from Madison to Elroy. This line is still active, the line on the Bram Street Bridge, currently, is not active.
Dimensions: Total length: 37 ft.
Deck width: 47 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12 ft.
Also called: C&NW Railroad Bridge No. 293
Approximate latitude, longitude: +43.27834, -89.51053 (decimal degrees)
43°16'42" N, 89°30'38" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 16/296292/4794785 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map: Lodi
Inventory number: BH 34730 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection
Average daily traffic (as of 2005): 45

Update Log

September 20, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning: Updated materials and added link to Bram Street Bridge
August 17, 2008: New photos from J.R. Manning

Sources

J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net

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