Rating:
3 votes

4th Street Bridge

Cullman County, Alabama

Photos 

Overview (Looking West)

There is more to this bridge than meets the eye.

Photo taken by James McCray

Enlarge

BH Photo #241535

Map 

Street View 

Description 

The date inscription on this bridge reads 1935, but this seems to refer to the concrete facade of the bridge. When one takes a closer inspection of the bridge one will find that the bridge has an older "medieval" type stone arch and buttress structure underneath the newer concrete portions. Therefore, the original structure of the bridge has to be much older.

Facts 

Overview
Stone arch bridge over an unnamed creek on 4th Street
Location
Cullman, Cullman County, Alabama
Status
Open to traffic
History
Bridge seems to be built pre 1900 and then rehabilitated/widened in 1935.
Design
Stone arch
Approximate latitude, longitude
+34.17318, -86.84469   (decimal degrees)
34°10'23" N, 86°50'41" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/514313/3781368 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Cullman
Inventory number
BH 53940 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Alabama (1,012)
Arch (12,650)
Cullman County, Alabama (27)
Cullman, Alabama (8)
Deck arch (11,887)
Have street view (28,888)
Open (40,965)
Owned by city (6,079)
Stone arch (3,279)

Update Log 

  • October 16, 2012: New photos from James McCray
  • October 15, 2012: Added by James McCray

Sources 

  • James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
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Comments 

4th Street Bridge
Posted October 16, 2012, by Ben Tate (benji5221 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Great find, James! I'll have to go check it out in person soon. I'm only about 30 minutes away.

4th Street Bridge
Posted October 16, 2012, by James McCray (jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com)

This is perhaps one of the most awesome and interesting finds that I have made recently. I am also requesting help here. When I first saw this bridge I thought it was just an old concrete stringer with interesting lamp posts, and unless someone takes the time to look at the bridge one would not think otherwise. Upon closer inspection, though, I found that the concrete part of the bridge hides a much older and mysterious "medieval" type stone arch structure. The bridge plaque on the lamp posts dates to 1935 but I believe that this is a rehabilitation date when the bridge was widened using the concrete facade. I am wondering if my theory is correct? If so, then I am going on to wonder how old is the stone arch part of the bridge? Can anyone help here or take a guess? This bridge is not on the NBI so that makes things even more interesting.