West Auburn Bridge

Photos

Barrel View From West

Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #122749

Map

Maps and Databases

Street View

Facts

Overview

Whipple through truss bridge over Little Turkey River on Bn Road near West Union

Location

Fayette County, Iowa

Status

Replaced by bridge on new alignment but left standing.Can be seen from the new bridge.

History

Built 1881; bypassed by a new bridge in 1996 but left standing.

Builder

- Horace E. Horton of Rochester, Minnesota

Design

Pin-connected Whipple through truss. (Whipple trusses were also called "double-intersected Pratt trusses.)

"[T]he west Auburn Bridge is one of only eight such structures known to exist in Iowa. The bridge has nine panels and is constructed of wrought iron. The truss has a 165' span, with a total bridge length of 181'. The bridge was designed by Horace Horton, an engineer based in Rochester, Minnesota, whose creative bridge designs, particularly for long spans, were well known in the Midwest."

Leslie Pinter, August 1995 for HAER

Dimensions

Length of largest span: 165.0 ft.
Total length: 181.0 ft.

Also called

Turkey River Bridge

Approximate latitude, longitude

+43.01603, -91.87856 (decimal degrees)
43°00'58" N, 91°52'43" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

15/591383/4763204 (zone/easting/northing)

Quadrangle map:

Saint Lucas

Inventory number

BH 37326 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

September 2, 2011: Updated by Jason Smith: This bridge still exists and can been seen from the new bridge. Accessible only on the east end through a dead end road.
July 20, 2011: Updated by Jason Smith: Corrected the GPS coordinates
February 17, 2011: New Street View added by Jason Smith
August 28, 2008: Added by J.R. Manning

Sources

J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
HAER IA-55 - West Auburn Bridge
Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth