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Territorial Road East Fork Bridge
Photos
Balustrade panel-or what you can see of it
Photo taken by Paul Plassman in July 2018
BH Photo #505209
Description
One of two almost identical steel stringer bridges from the 1920's within a quarter mile of each other on Territorial Road that both use the balustrades and concrete facade preceding the popular R4 rails.Facts
- Overview
- Steel stringer bridge over East Fork West Branch St. Joseph River on Territorial Rd (formerly State Route 120)
- Location
- Hillsdale County, Michigan
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Future prospects
- Slated for demolition and replacement. Bridge listed on road commission's 2021 projects list. As of November 2021, no work has begun.
- History
- Built 1928
- Design
- Steel stringer with concrete facade and balustrade rails
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 44.0 ft.
Total length: 44.9 ft.
Deck width: 22.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.70850, -84.68958 (decimal degrees)
41°42'31" N, 84°41'22" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/692220/4619991 (zone/easting/northing)
- Elevation
- 938 ft. above sea level
- Average daily traffic (as of 2013)
- 808
- Inventory numbers
- MINEW 03278 (Michigan bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory 2011 and later)
BH 94130 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of November 2018)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 36.3 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- November 17, 2021: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is now doomed.
- August 27, 2021: Added by Paul Plassman
Related Bridges
- Territorial Road West Fork Bridge (Same design) - Similar size and same design and age
Sources
- Paul Plassman
- Historic Bridges.org - Michigan R4 Railing History Design Evolution - Not directly related to this bridge, but provides a great discussion of the concrete facade and balustrade combination used during this time period in Michigan
- Nathan Holth
- 2021 Federal Aid Projects | Hillsdale CRC
Comments
Territorial Road East Fork Bridge
Yeah my guess is the project isn't happening this year either.
Territorial Road East Fork Bridge
Well, that's a bummer. These two bridges are a nice pair of the increasingly rare concrete-facade/balustrade combination bridges. Glad I got photos of them and the one on Montgomery when I did.
However, I do note that the spans on Territorial have been on the list of Hillsdale County Road Commission federal aid projects since 2018--and postponed every year. Their demise may not be that imminent.
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This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mi/hillsdale/bh94130/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mi/hillsdale/bh94130/
The bridges are in an area where a rare species finds habitat so proper care is being taken to make sure that both the replacement and the inhabitants can coexist. ref: https://www.hillsdale.net/story/news/2021/07/06/bridge-const...