Bridgeport Bridge

Photos

General Setting Looking South, Main Channel Bridge

Photo taken by Mark R. Fay, April 1987, for HAER

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #119976

Map

Map Links

Significance of the Bridgeport Bridge

Written by Robert S. Newbery, Wisc DOT; Amy A. Ross, Mead & Hunt, Inc., 1993

The Bridgeport Bridge replaced a private toll bridge that had been built here in 1857. The new bridge abutted the bluff above Bridgeport, redirecting traffic away from the town. A fire destroyed much of Bridgeport and a wood railroad trestle. The trestle was rebuilt, but the train no longer stopped in Bridgeport and today, it consists of only a few private residences.

In 1983, the Bridgeport Bridge, comprised of seven truss spans, was one of five remaining Pennsylvania trusses in the State of Wisconsin. However in the subsequent ten years, four of these uncommon truss bridges including the Bridgeport Bridge have been demolished. The Bridgeport Bridge was impressive in its overall length of 3400 feet, including one span over the slough, an intervening island, and nine spans over the main channel. Together with the Marquette-Prairie du Chien Bridge over the Mississippi River, begun in the same year, the Bridgeport Bridge represented the key to an improved transportation link between Iowa and Wisconsin.

NOTE: With the destruction of this, and the other remaining Pennsylvania truss bridges, the Cobban Bridge in Chippewa County is now the last remaining Pennsylvania overhead truss in the state.

Facts

Overview: Lost Pennsylvania through truss bridge over Wisconsin River on US 18 - STH 35 in Town of Wyalusing
Location: Wyalusing, Grant County, Wisconsin, and Crawford County, Wisconsin
Status: Replaced by new bridge
History: Build 1931; Replaced 1989; Demolished 1990
Builders: - C.H. Kirsch
- Schaffer Construction Co.
- Steven Brothers
- Wisconsin State Highway Commission
Design: 7 span, riveted, Pennsylvania overhead truss with concrete decking. The bridge crossed main channel, sloughs and an island. Three short steel beam spans crossed the main channel, a tributary and the Milwaukee Road tracks.
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 232.0 ft.
Total length: 3,400.0 ft. (0.6 mi.)
Deck width: 23.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.1 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude: +43.00222, -91.05384 (decimal degrees)
43°00'08" N, 91°03'14" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 15/658624/4762899 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Bridgeport
Inventory number: BH 37074 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

August 4, 2008: Essay added by J.R. Manning

Sources

J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
HAER WI-54 - Bridgeport Bridge, Spanning Wisconsin River at U.S. Highway 18, Bridgeport, Crawford County, WI