Mystery Bridge
Photos
Still a mystery--
It looks like it could handle a car but I might want to pull in the mirrors on my truck.
Photo taken by Clark Vance in December 2010
BH Photo #191080
Facts
- Overview
- Mystery bowstring-like bridge now sitting in a field off MO 58
- Location
- Cass County, Missouri
- Status
- Moved to new location
- Future prospects
- I have found it on Google Earth, it moved a few miles down the road, on MO 58, just off Rt. BB.
- History
- Stored at this location for a few years
- Design
- Modern bowstring pony truss
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 50.0 ft.
Deck width: 6.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.78419, -94.31931 (decimal degrees)
38°47'03" N, 94°19'10" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/385410/4293654 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Pleasant Hill
- Inventory number
- BH 45631 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 1, 2013: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "Modern pony truss"
- December 30, 2010: New photos from Clark Vance
- July 12, 2010: Added by James Baughn based on a tip from Kelly McClanahan
Comments
Went by this afternoon, and the bridge is now gone. There is some concrete culverts in the area now, but the bridge is gone. My guess it is now in use, but out of view.
Does anyone know who the owner may be of this bridge? I am interested in possible purchase for the bridge for use on my personal property.
I think this was a pedestrian bridge from a park or golf course.
Eh, modern or not, it's interesting enough that I'd vote on it staying. There are many far worse things on here than this, lol.
Posting sign is gone and there's no fence along the road so I got in for a closer look. I suggest we consider this for deletion--it's really nothing special.
It actually reminds me of a crest from an old roller coaster. Just sayin'...
It looks like a portable, temporary bridge for light vehicular use. The angle of the tangent where the deck intersects the ground would only work for high vehicles moving very slowly. I've never seen anything like it used in construction.
Still a mystery until someone figures out what it is and where it came from.
I used to pull in to this drive 40+ years ago when it was the entry to "Lake Winnebago South", a group of lots around what was supposed to be a second recreational lake. The entry had a guard house and a divided drive with a planted median. A graveled road ran through the woods and some of the lots were cleared, mowed regularly, and had signs "Future home of" so-and-so. You could pull in a couple of hundred yards and get on the east side of an abandoned quarry where the chat piles were a backstop for target shooting. Legal wrangling over the failed development went on for thirty years with those property owners getting less than half their investment back. I don't know who owns the place now, but the bridge is a recent addition, and the chained gate that made me choose not to get closer for photographs.
I drive by this just about everyday, I talked to the guy next door at the auto shop (I am a parts driver) and they know thing about it, but several people have asked about it.
This appears to be a fairly modern looking (and likely welded) truss bridge. Usually you see these light-duty spans on trails, but this one was obviously built wide enough for vehicle use.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mo/cass/mystery/
I am not sure but the bridge might have been moved to another location...I think I might have seen it along MO Highway 58, between Rt 7 and MO 291. I will try and look for it again if I am in the area.