Freedom Bridge
Photos
VIEW OF THE BRIDGE, LOOKING SOUTH, INCLUDING A PORTION OF THE CAUSEWAY.
Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record
View photos at Library of Congress
BH Photo #152650
Facts
- Overview
- Relocated Pennsylvania through truss bridge formerly over White River on CR 590 South
- Location
- Owen County, Indiana
- Status
- Replaced with a new bridge and relocated to Carroll County for use on a trail.
- Future prospects
- Now spans the new Hoosier Heartland Highway East of Delphi in Carroll County and will carry pedestrians on the Monon High Bridge Trail.
- History
- Built in 1898 to replace the 2 lost spans of a 600 ft. covered bridge. Replaced starting in 2001 and dismantled until being rebuilt in Carroll County.
- Builder
- - Lafayette Bridge Co. of Lafayette, Indiana
- Design
- Pin-connected Pennsylvania through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 303.1 ft.
Total length: 303.0 ft.
Deck width: 16.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.7 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Also called
- Owen County Bridge No. 99
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.20528, -86.86583 (decimal degrees)
39°12'19" N, 86°51'57" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/511584/4339565 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Freedom
- Average daily traffic (as of 2012)
- 586
- Inventory numbers
- INNBI 6000071 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 16800 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of November 2016)
- Overall condition: Good
Superstructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 87.1 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- July 11, 2019: New photos from Mike Daffron
- December 30, 2014: New photos from Mike Daffron
- December 18, 2012: Updated by Tony Dillon: Updated future prospects
- January 17, 2010: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Alternate name, HAER data and categories
- January 25, 2009: Updated by Anthony Dillon: status
Related Bridges
- Freedom Bridge (Parts reused in)
Sources
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- HAER IN-73 - Freedom Bridge, Spanning West Fork of White River at County Road 590 South, Freedom, Owen County, IN
- Robert Stephenson - seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Mike Daffron - daffmikron [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Not the same bridge; Gray Bridge is a Pratt truss.
This is Gray Bridge I think. At Wabash Erie canal park in Delphi. All volunteerand a great model. Check them out at wabasheriecanalpark.org
Here's a picture of this bridge that I took on 5/25/2014 near Delphi, Indiana. I was facing roughly south-south-west while I took this. I don't know when the bridge will be put into place.
The Freedom Bridge is to re-erected in Carroll County and will carry the High Bridge Trail over the new Hoosier Heartland Corridor. The new highway will be a 4-lane, limited access upgrade of State Route 25 from Lafayette to Fort Wayne.
http://www.in.gov/indot/projects/files/Segment2.pdf
http://www.carrollcountycomet.com/news/2012-01-04/Local_News...
Hopefully it will be in place sometime next year and should be amazing when finished.
Any news about this bridge? I see what might be it in storage here: http://binged.it/12o46mT but was curious if they were still planning on putting the bridge back together.
The Freedom Bridge is dismantled and stored somewhere on the park property. I'm not sure what the timeline is for rebuilding it, hopefully soon! The other bridge you mentioned is the Secrest Ferry Bridge and it is to be restored for trail use. It is actually the longest Pennsylvania Thru truss remaining that was built for road use @ 316'. It's located at CR450E and was built in 1914 by the Lafayette Engineering Co.
This bridge may not be at this location anymore. There was all kinds of word that this bridge will be disassembled and moved to the Conner Prairie north of Indianapolis. The plan was reconstruct the bridge over the same river that far upstream, but it would probably be used for pedestrians and buggys. It would be fortunate for this to happen instead of the bridge being torn down.
Also back in 1998 I saw this other single span through truss bridge over the White River south of Gosport which is not listed in this website. I'm pretty sure it still exists. It looks like it was bypassed by a new bridge back in 1990 according to the new one's plaque. Someday, I'll have to check out to see if this one still exists.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/in/owen/6000071/
Julie, the Grey Bridge is the former Houck Bridge from Putnam County and yes it is a Pratt.
The Freedom Bridge is a spectacular 300 ft. long Pennsylvania Truss from the town of Freedom in Owen County, Indiana. It has been dismantled for a number of years, but is now being reassembled and restored to cross the new highway being built near Delphi. It will be a very impressive site when it is finished.