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Grand Avenue Viaduct

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Photos 

General View Of Bridge, South Side, Looking Northeast From West

Photo taken for the Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #309312

Map 

Description 

The Grand Avenue Viaduct, Milwaukee's earliest example of a large scale concrete bridge, was the result of a national design competition which included entries from some of the most prominent architects and engineers of the day. The winning entry by The Concrete-Steel Engineering Company and by Palmer & Hornbostel of New York employed the Melan steel beam reinforcement method. The Art Deco bridge is of a barrel arch design and is a relatively late example of the Melan system. Second place in the competition went to a more innovative ribbed arch design by the well-known concrete engineer, C.A.P. Turner. City officials envisioned the viaduct as one link in a grand boulevard that would eventually connect Milwaukee with Madison, 100 miles to the west.

-- Historic American Engineering Record

Facts 

Overview
Lost Open-spandrel arch bridge over North 44th Street, Canadian National Railway, Menomonee River, North 39th Street, Miller Brewing Co on Grand Avenue/Wisconsin Avenue
Location
Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Status
Replaced by a new bridge
History
Built 1911; replaced 1993
Builders
- Concrete-Steel Engineering Co. of New York, New York (Designer)
- Gustav Steinhagen of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (Supervising Engineer)
- McCarthy Improvement Co. of Davenport, Iowa
- National Engineering & Construction Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Second Contractor)
- Newton Engineering Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Original Contractor)
- Palmer & Hornbostel of New York, New York (Designer)
- William Mueser of Moers, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (Designer)
Design
Open-spandrel arch
Approximate latitude, longitude
+43.03878, -87.96655   (decimal degrees)
43°02'20" N, 87°57'60" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/421267/4765574 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Milwaukee
Inventory number
BH 64313 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Arch (12,100)
Built 1911 (786)
Built during 1910s (9,632)
Concrete-Steel Engineering Co. (15)
Deck arch (11,339)
Gustav Steinhagen (2)
HAER documented (1,106)
Lost (24,727)
Lost 1993 (460)
Lost during 1990s (3,983)
McCarthy Improvement Co. (4)
 Menomonee River (Milwaukee County, Wisconsin) (24)
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (152)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (100)
National Engineering & Construction Co. (1)
Newton Engineering Co. (2)
Open-spandrel arch (760)
Palmer & Hornbostel (1)
Replaced by new bridge (16,573)
William Mueser (6)
Wisconsin (1,468)

Update Log 

  • December 20, 2016: New photo from Dave King

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Luke
  • HAER WI-27 - Grand Avenue Viaduct, West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com

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