Rating:
3 votes

US30 Loup River Bridge

Platte County, Nebraska

Photos 

Westbound Lincoln Highway

This photo was taken during the 90th Anniversary Lincoln Highway Cross Country Cruise.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in August 2003

BH Photo #148592

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Loup River on Westbound US 30/US 81
Location
Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1931
Design
Seven span Parker through truss. North approach is a steel beam stringer.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 160.1 ft.
Total length: 1,270.1 ft.
Deck width: 24.0 ft.
Also called
US81 Loup River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.41684, -97.36817   (decimal degrees)
41°25'01" N, 97°22'05" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
14/636373/4586317 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Columbus
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
13,585
Inventory number
BH 24445 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2017)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 6 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Beam (16,876)
Built 1931 (976)
Built during 1930s (12,165)
Columbus, Nebraska (7)
Have street view (28,892)
Lincoln Highway (143)
Nebraska (1,687)
Open (40,968)
Owned by state (16,553)
Parker through truss (1,406)
 Parker truss (1,801)
Platte County, Nebraska (24)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,416)
Steel stringer (6,709)
Through truss (16,730)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,991)
Truss (35,397)
US 30 (128)
US 81 (18)

Update Log 

  • June 2, 2012: Updated by Fmiser: expanded description
  • June 1, 2012: New photos from Fmiser
  • May 15, 2012: Updated by Fmiser: Changed "design" to Parker, added quantity of spans
  • August 7, 2011: New photos from James McCray
  • June 14, 2010: New photo from Nathan Holth
  • November 7, 2009: New photo from J.R. Manning
  • June 22, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning: Added to Lincoln Highway category

Sources 

  • J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
  • Nathan Holth
  • James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Fmiser - fmiser [at] gmail [dot] com
Post a comment here

Comments 

Loup River Bridge
Posted May 16, 2012, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

I agree with Mr. Goff. Some have argued that a Parker with stiffening struts automatically becomes a Pennsylvania, (In need to relocate the source) but I have never thought of it that way. Of course, I am not a bridge engineer, so I am hoping to hear some other opinions on that matter.

Loup River Bridge
Posted May 16, 2012, by Mike Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Fmiser,

You are correct in that this truss is a Parker and not a Pennsylvania. I can understand some confusion due to the stiffening struts through the middle to the truss web members.

Loup River Bridge
Posted May 15, 2012, by Fmiser (fmiser [at] gmail [dot] com)

The data for this bridge state it is a Pennsylvania truss. As I understand, a Pennsylvania would have half-length diagonals and verticals connecting to the lower half of the full-length diagonals. I don't see any. Thus I think these are actually Parker trusses.

So, I'm changing the "Design" to Parker. If I'm wrong, slap me and change it back. :)

Loup River Bridge
Posted June 14, 2010, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This bridge is the longest vehicular truss bridge in the state that does not cross the Missouri River. The previous bridge here was a multi-span pin-connected Baltimore truss bridge. One of those spans remains because it was moved here: http://www.bridgehunter.com/ne/sheridan/C008124905P/