River Street Bridge

Photos

Culvert

See it way down there, under all the dirt? The bridge was replaced by a concrete tube and fill.

Apparently, no one remembers Richard W. "Dick" Weldon anymore.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in October 2012

Enlarge

BH Photo #241695

Map

Maps and Databases

Description

Located in the small town of Marble Rock, this concrete girder structure carries River Street over a minor drainage ditch. The River Street Bridge is comprised of three 30-foot concrete girders, supported by a concrete substructure. Although the interior girders are straight, the spandrels are arched, giving the bridge the appearance of a true filled spandrel arch. The River Street Bridge was built in 1912 by the Miller-Hey Construction Company of Des Moines. As employees of the Advance Construction Company of Wisconsin, G. W. Miller and W.A. Hey had first worked in Floyd County on the Main Street Bridge in Charles City. They had only recently formed Miller-Hey when they contracted for the River Street Bridge. Completed in 1912, it has carried traffic to the present, with no appreciable alterations. One of the first design standards developed b the re-formed state highway commission in 1913 was the concrete deck girder. Thousands of such small-scale girders preceded the development of this statewide standard, however, and only a handful remains in use today in Iowa. Of these pre-ISHC bridges-and among all of Iowa's deck girders-the River Street Bridge is unique for its faux arch design. The arched form was generally held to b the most aesthetically successful configuration for urban bridges for its symmetry and associations with classical architecture. The River Street Bridge acknowledges this sense of aesthetic in its arched spandrels. A simple beam bridge in arch clothing, it s a noteworthy, small-scale exercise in urban bridge design [adapted from Hybben, Roise and Fraser 1992]

Facts

Overview: Concrete deck girder over an unnamed drainage ditch on River Street in Marble Rock
Location: Marble Rock, Floyd County, Iowa
Status: Demolished, replaced by concrete culvert and landfill.
History: Built 1912, destroyed 2012
Builder: - Miller-Hey Construction Co. of Des Moines, Iowa (Formerly of Waterloo)
Design: Concrete deck girder
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 32.2 ft.
Total length: 95.1 ft.
Deck width: 18.0 ft.
Recognition: Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 25, 1998
Also called: Richard W. "Dick" Weldon River Street Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude: +42.96655, -92.86941 (decimal degrees)
42°57'60" N, 92°52'10" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 15/510649/4757108 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Greene
Average daily traffic (as of 1998): 289
Inventory numbers: IA 7670 (Iowa bridge number)
NRHP 98000778 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 13514 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of March 2009): Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Critical (2 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 15.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Update Log

September 11, 2021: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
November 22, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Corrected type, added builder & a pic
October 21, 2012: Updated by J.R. Manning: Added NRHP listing and updated status to "Demolished"

Sources

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