Austin Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Bowstring through truss bridge over Neosho River, 2.2 mi. east and 2.9 mi. south of Chanute
- Location
- Neosho County, Kansas
- Status
- Removed but not replaced, bowstring relocated and preserved.
- Builder
- - King Iron Bridge Co. of Cleveland, Ohio [also known as King Bridge Co.]
- Design
- Bowstring through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 319.8 ft.
Total length: 450.0 ft.
Deck width: 12.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places
- Also called
- Neosho River Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.63192, -95.41383 (decimal degrees)
37°37'55" N, 95°24'50" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/287001/4167717 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Chanute
- Land survey
- T. 28 S., R. 18 E., Sec. 2
- Elevation
- 900 ft. above sea level
- Average daily traffic (as of 2007)
- 5
- Inventory numbers
- KS 000671029206249 (Kansas local bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 18297 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of September 2009)
- Sufficiency rating: 17.5 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- October 8, 2019: Updated by Art Suckewer: Changed status indicating relocation of bowstring and, based on Melissa’s post, it may be or have been on the register.
- October 7, 2019: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added builder and truss type
- October 7, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
- October 7, 2015: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "Relocated"
- October 6, 2015: Updated by Clark Vance: Location from historic map.
- April 30, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Incorporated new NBI data.
Related Bridges
- Austin-Santa Fe Park Bridge (Parts reused in) - The relocated bridge removed from here
Sources
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
- Melissa Brand-Welch - melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
Comments
Although the "Prize" span was saved here, I too was thinking last night that it's a shame they didn't repurpose the little Pratt as well!
Art, you're welcome. I definitely want more information on this one too
Thanks for the pic Melissa!
Glad they saved the bowstring. Too bad they scrapped the cute little Pratt. I wonder if we can find info on it.
Regards,
Art S.
Mr. Olson:
Thank you for posting your information in the comments. This helps to explain the length discrepancy - and it confirms our suspicions concerning the original location of the Austin Bridge.
Robert
This pin is in the correct spot for the "Austin" location of this bridge. The community of Austin was located on the West side of the bridge. The reason for the length discrepancy is due to the fact that when the bridge was moved from its original location east of chanute it had apratt truss style approach attached to each end to make it long enough to cross the river in this new location. When the bridge was relocated to Santa Fe park in 1999 these Pratt truss approaches were removed from the original structure and scraped.
I am not sure when the bridge acquired its name. This one has moved at least twice. It originally spanned the Neosho River at Chanute before being moved to Austin, KS.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that the dimensions of the bridge in this listing, and the Austin Bridge in Chanute do not match. I have been told that this is the same bridge however.
So it's called the Austin Bridge because that's where it was originally located. I wonder if that was the common name before it was moved.
We may need a status for "not here any more but not lost".
Actually, we are dealing with an Elvis Bridge. This one is now in Santa Fe Park in Chanute, where it is known as the Austin Bridge.
The 1951 Chanute 62500 map shows a crossing where I placed the pin. A field check or better images might show some remains.
According to the latest NBI data (2009), this bridge was extant as of 2007. The bridge remains a complete mystery to me as I have not found it on Google Earth nor by vehicle. See comment below for more information.
The NBI considers the bridge to be possibly eligible for the NRHP.
As always, ignore the Kansas default date of 1910.
This bridge would be a great find if it still exists. Despite the discrepancy in dimensions (see below), I had assumed that this bridge was the Austin Bridge http://www.bridgehunter.com/ks/neosho/austin/ which had been located southeast of Chanute. But the Austin Bridge was moved back to Chanute before 2005, when the last known inspection of this bridge was conducted.
Furthermore, the dimensions are wrong. The Austin Bridge is a fine Bowstring truss, but it is not 320 feet long!
I have scanned the Neosho River in this area via Google Maps and the only bridge im the area is the Harper Road Bridge, a modern concrete structure that was built before 2005, the date of inspection. If any resident of the Chanute area knows the status of this bridge, their information would be welcome.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/neosho/671029206249/
I've searched for an hour this morning. Most of the information is related to the relocation.