Rating:
1 vote

Lanning Wooden Bridge

Phelps County, Missouri

Photos 

Photo taken by James McCray

Enlarge

BH Photo #198502

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Timber stringer bridge over Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on North Main Street
Location
Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri
Status
Open to pedestrians
History
Dates back to 1862 but rebuilt 3 times, the last in 1898. Rehabilitated as a pedestrian bridge in 1999
Railroad
- St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (SLSF; Frisco)
Design
Timber stringer
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 27.9 ft.
Total length: 102.0 ft.
Deck width: 18.4 ft.
Also called
North Main Street Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+37.94659, -91.77360   (decimal degrees)
37°56'48" N, 91°46'25" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/607754/4200598 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Rolla
Land survey
T. 37 N., R. 8 W., Sec. 14
Inventory number
BH 48436 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (7,622)
Beam (15,794)
Built 1898 (305)
Built during 1890s (2,995)
Functionally obsolete (6,370)
Have street view (27,058)
Missouri (6,315)
Open to pedestrians (4,249)
Owned by city (5,454)
 Phelps County, Missouri (26)
Preserved (1,194)
Rail-to-trail (1,559)
Rolla, Missouri (1)
Span length 25-50 feet (15,705)
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (217)
Timber stringer (4,026)
Total length 100-125 feet (5,188)
Wooden railroad overpass (93)

Update Log 

  • June 21, 2016: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "St. Louis-San Francisco Railway"
  • July 4, 2014: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Rail-to-trail", "Wooden railroad overpass"
  • June 9, 2011: New photos from Clark Vance
  • May 1, 2011: Updated by James McCray: Changed name of bridge to reflect its new name and added year built and history.
  • March 18, 2011: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Lanning Wooden Bridge
Posted July 4, 2014, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

A well known family in Rolla. From the city website:

"Lanning Wooden Bridge Park

The City's smallest developed park, Lanning Wooden Bridge Park is .03 acres at the corner of 4th and Main, and offers a pleasant spot to just sit in the shade, visit the historic wooden railroad bridge, or take a stroll over the bridge to the 1860's courthouse. The park was recently renamed to honor the Lanning family of Rolla, who have contributed much of the funding to develop and landscape the park."

This bridge was probably saved through their efforts.

Lanning Wooden Bridge
Posted July 4, 2014, by remick (remickbl [at] gmail [dot] com)

what's the story about these people, and this bridge?

Lanning Wooden Bridge
Posted June 9, 2011, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

Some years ago as a student there I determined that a Volkswagen traveling at a high rate of speed could become air born at the apex of this bridge.

Forty years ago this was one of two roads that allowed one to cross the tracks when a train was present. They build a third, then closed this one. At least they preserved it in place.