Little Niangua Swinging Bridge

We were just across the bridge on May 12, 2019. MDOT is building a new bridge next to this one.

A group is working to save this bridge in place, and is seeking donations:

https://greensmillhistoricalbridge.com/

A friend tipped me off to an article about this bridge in a magazine called "Rural Missouri"

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201807/index.p...

It's a fair article. Not much technical data, but what's there seems to be accurate. Mostly it focuses on a local resident who is intent on saving the bridge from demolition when the new bridge is done.

A Section 106 Review has been triggered by the proposed replacement of this bridge. I have communicated with MoDOT and indicated that this bridge should be considered to be Nationally Significant given the rare self-anchored design. A Nationally Significant historic bridge will require extraordinary mitigation for any adverse effect (such as demolition).

This bridge is on the short list to be replaced in the next three years. The Missouri Department of Transportation will be giving it away, though, to anyone who is willing to preserve it by taking it apart and putting it back together in another place.

One day back in September of 2000, I decided to go on a little roadtrip to view some of the infamous Dice swinging bridges of Miller County. I lived in Knob Noster at the time. My route took me through Warsaw. I headed east out of Warsaw on MO 7 and wanted to get to US 54. I wanted to see if the US 54 Niangua River bridge was still extant (Only one truss remained), so I chose to cut through via Route J. As I turned onto J, I noticed a low clearance sign and thought "Cool! A through truss!" I traveled a few miles when I saw some more clearance warnings and started to get excited. I approached a river crossing and got an adrenaline rush. I rounded the corner and instead of a truss, I spotted this monster. I had absolutely no idea it was there (this was before Bridgehunter). I didn't see a good place to take pictures so I kept driving. It's ironic that on the way to visit suspension bridges in Miller County, I found a a swinging bridge just off the beaten path. The moral of the story is to keep your eyes open at all times and you never know what you might find.

This bridge is about 25 minutes from where I work. It’s a very nice example of a self-anchored swinging bridge. It is 2 lanes and looks very sound, but does have quite a bit of rust on the metal. The deck is a metal grate deck with no concrete surface. It’s neat below the bridge because all the light shines through the deck. It’s also very loud when you drive across it. I will send some pictures to the website soon.