Castor River MO 72 Bridge

Photos

Driving west

Photo taken by James Baughn

Enlarge

BH Photo #199814

Map

Maps and Databases

Description

The lady who lives in the house next to this bridge managed to save one span of it. MODOT wanted to remove the pony truss that comes right before this bridge and replace it with a low water bridge. The lady told them that they better be prepared to put her up in a hotel every time it rains because she won't be able to get home. Then she asked if they could leave one span of this bridge for her. She was fine with them removing the other 2 because she felt people would still use it if not. They first denied her request until she said the magic words, "It would keep you from having to pay for the removal of the third span." They left her the one span and the pony truss with the agreement that she owns it and owns all liabilities for any accidents that may occur there. Now she considers it her patio.

Facts

Overview: Partially lost three-span through truss bridge over Castor River and single pony truss over Cape Creek on MO 72 between Fredericktown and Patton
Location: Madison County, Missouri
Status: Two spans removed in Summer 2007
History: Built 1923; rehabilitated 1933
Design: Castor River spans: Three 5-panel Pratt through trusses
Cape Creek span: One 7-panel Pratt pony truss
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 307.0 ft.
Deck width: 22.6 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude: +37.52850, -90.16957 (decimal degrees)
37°31'43" N, 90°10'10" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 15/750113/4157268 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Higdon
Land survey: T. 33 N., R. 8 E., Sec. 28
Inventory number: BH 21964 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

September 1, 2011: Updated by Ben Tate: added description
July 28, 2011: New photo from John Christeson
May 23, 2011: New photos from James Baughn

Sources

James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
John Christeson - john_christeson [at] yahoo [dot] com
Ben Tate - benji5221 [at] yahoo [dot] com