Rating:
1 vote

Whipple Ford Bridge

Decatur County, Indiana

Photos 

Photo courtesy of the Indiana State Department of Natural Resource, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

Enlarge

View more info about Indiana historic bridges from the SHAARD database

BH Photo #157748

Map 

Description 

Featured a "Beehive style" IBCo plaque from the early 1890's

Facts 

Overview
Lost Pratt through truss bridge over Sand Creek on CR 620 S
Location
Decatur County, Indiana
Status
Collapsed due to an overweight truck
History
Built 1891; collapsed January 4, 1993
Builder
- Indiana Bridge Co. of Muncie, Indiana
Design
8-panel, pinned Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 131.9 ft.
Total length: 132.9 ft.
Deck width: 16.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.0 ft.
Also called
Sand Creek-CR 600S Bridge
County Bridge #146
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.24709, -85.53349   (decimal degrees)
39°14'50" N, 85°32'01" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/626547/4345221 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Westport
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
110
Inventory numbers
INNBI 1600121 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 38947 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of April 2017)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 91.5 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

19th Century (8,404)
Built 1891 (243)
Built during 1890s (3,196)
Collapsed (434)
Decatur County, Indiana (80)
Indiana (5,098)
Indiana Bridge Co. (146)
Lost (28,556)
 Lost 1993 (474)
Lost during 1990s (4,148)
Pratt through truss (6,065)
Pratt truss (10,313)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,423)
Through truss (16,831)
Total length 125-175 feet (6,190)
Truss (35,520)

Update Log 

  • December 17, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
  • March 12, 2010: Updated by Anthony Dillon: Added builder and truss type
  • January 31, 2009: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Melissa Brand-Welch - melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com
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Comments 

Sand Creek Bridge
Posted December 17, 2019, by Melissa Brand-Welch (melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com)

Tom, you're very welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Sand Creek Bridge
Posted December 17, 2019, by Tom Hoffman

Thanks for finding this article Melissa! I never got to see this bridge, but do remember the article at the front page of Greensburg Daily News when I was like 12. These trucks called 2-ton definitely weigh more than 2 tons(like 14,000 empty). After this bridge collapsed, the engineering firm reduced weight limits on most older bridges in the county. Today Decatur County has no more historic metal trusses open for traffic. Thanks again Melissa.

Sand Creek Bridge
Posted December 17, 2019, by Melissa Brand-Welch (melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com)

For Tom Hoffman

Sand Creek Bridge
Posted February 4, 2009, by Tom Hoffman (tehoffm [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This was bridge 146. It was destroyed by an overweight feed truck around the time indicated it was replaced.