Morgan Chapel Road Bridge
Photos
Morgan Chapel Road Bridge
Looking south
Photo taken by Michael Miller in September 2013
View this photo at panoramio.com
BH Photo #265888
Description
This bridge replaces an older span. It utilizes the steel trusses from the demolished structure strictly as a decorative element & serves no structural purpose.Facts
- Overview
- Concrete Stringer bridge utilizing steel trusses from former bridge as a decorative element over Pacolet River on NC 1517
- Location
- Polk County, North Carolina
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Design
- Concrete stringer
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 60.0 ft.
Total length: 92.9 ft.
Deck width: 11.2 ft.
- Also called
- Pacolet River Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +35.21556, -82.18028 (decimal degrees)
35°12'56" N, 82°10'49" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/392578/3897585 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Landrum
- Average daily traffic (as of 2015)
- 370
- Inventory numbers
- NC 1490019 (North Carolina bridge number)
BH 23307 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of August 2017)
- Overall condition: Good
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 87.3 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- September 6, 2013: New photo from Michael Miller
- September 4, 2013: New Street View added by Michael Miller
Sources
- Michael Miller - michael_a_miller [at] yahoo [dot] com
Comments
The truss bridge was listed as built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1961. The current bridge is indeed a pre-stressed concrete box beam. Trusses likely placed as decorations as mitigation for Section 106. While this is not a form of preservation, for a Section 106 mitigation, I consider this a good outcome since some original bridge material is saved.
Agree. Concrete box beam, with 1930's or so warren pony truss webs an decoration. I suspect it was a "compromise", allowing the engineer to use a "safe" concrete span, but quiet the noise from the folks wishing their truss bridge was still there. A mutt bridge.
You nailed it. The trusses are decorative. It might be a box beam from the looks of the underside.
I will preface this by saying that I'm not an engineer, but do not believe this is a truss bridge. Does it have trusses? Yes. There used to be a truss bridge here. I know this because I have crossed it before, but they demolished the truss bridge & built this new bridge just a few years ago. It appears as if they kept the steel from the old truss bridge & incorporated it into the design so that it is strictly ornamental and not structural. This is actually a concrete stringer bridge now. I tried doing some online research, but I couldn't find anything relating to the construction of this bridge.
Perhaps a real engineer or someone who knows more about bridges than I do can look at the pictures I've added and either confirm or deny my theory.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nc/polk/1490019/
And this replacement bridge actually had some thought put into it. Instead of just slapping the trusses on a slab they really did a good job with the overall design and made them stand out nicely.
Not as good as rehabilitating the truss bridge itself... but better than nothing.