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Maclay Bridge

Missoula County, Montana

Photos 

Photo taken by Jack Schmidt

Enlarge

BH Photo #272552

Map 

Street View 

Description 

Detailed History: A bridge dating to 1922 existed at this location as a replacement for an 1893 bridge. The 180 foot main span seen today was built in 1914 in another location (The span originally crossed the Blackfoot River near about 30 miles northeast of Missoula called the Nine Mile Prairie Bridge) and was relocated and reused here as a new span in 1953. At this time, a ca. 1925 39 foot pony truss span (from yet another location) was relocated here also to be used as a new approach span. Floods washed out a southeast approach span in 1964, sparing the two truss spans, and the destroyed approach span was replaced with prestressed concrete spans at that time.

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Bitterroot River on CR L1390 in Orchard Homes
Location
Orchard Homes, Missoula County, Montana
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
Future uncertain. Plans were to build a new bridge for vehicular use on new alignment and preserve historic bridge for non-motorized traffic, but locals want a rehab for continued vehicular use and do not want any new bridge.
History
Built 1914; Moved here 1953; rehabilitated 1964
Builder
- O.E. Peppard of Missoula, Montana (1914 Parker Truss Span)
Design
Pin-connected Parker through truss main span, and a Warren pony truss approach span.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 180.1 ft.
Total length: 346.1 ft.
Deck width: 14.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.2 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 2016
Also called
Bitterroot River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+46.85316, -114.09791   (decimal degrees)
46°51'11" N, 114°05'52" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
11/721230/5192935 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Southwest Missoula
Average daily traffic (as of 2016)
1,962
Inventory numbers
L32101000+01001
NRHP 16000875 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 23105 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of August 2017)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 30 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1914 (848)
Built during 1910s (9,968)
Have street view (28,893)
Missoula County, Montana (44)
Montana (843)
NR-listed (3,013)
O.E. Peppard (20)
One-lane traffic (7,833)
Open (40,969)
Orchard Homes, Montana (1)
Owned by county (21,606)
 Parker through truss (1,406)
Parker truss (1,801)
Pin-connected (4,688)
Pony truss (17,008)
Span length 175-250 feet (2,058)
Through truss (16,748)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,506)
Truss (35,420)
Warren pony truss (3,556)
Warren truss (7,000)

Update Log 

  • August 9, 2020: New Street View added by Geoff Hubbs
  • November 13, 2019: Updated by Nathan Holth: Added history and builders.
  • March 27, 2017: Updated by Dave King: Bridge has been posted to NRHP
  • July 18, 2016: New photos from David Jones
  • January 6, 2014: Updated by Luke Harden: Added city
  • March 25, 2012: New Street View added by Craig Philpott
  • February 10, 2011: Updated by Nathan Holth: Updated bridge type and name.
  • April 20, 2010: New Street View added by J.P.

Sources 

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Comments 

Maclay Bridge
Posted January 6, 2014, by Jack Schmidt (jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net)

Picture taken 7-11-13 My GPS N46 51.190 W114 05.877

Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.

Maclay Bridge
Posted February 11, 2011, by J.P.

Montana gives bridges two ratings, one based on the health of the bridge and one based on sufficiency of the bridge. Health wise this bridge outscored the rest of the bridges in the state at 96.49. But then came in at 43.2 in sufficiency just because its one lane, and has a weight limit. And now the state is wanting to bypass or replace it. I hope the community there fights to keep the bridge standing at the very least.

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_43d9ff7c-2aa0-11e0-...

Maclay Bridge
Posted February 10, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This bridge is NBI listed as 1935, but I am thinking the main pin-connected thru truss span is older and was relocated here. The pony truss might be from 1935 however.