Rating:
2 votes

Fetters Mill Road Bridge

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Photos 

Fetters Mill Road Bridge - February 7, 2009

Side View

Photo taken by Raymond Klein

Enlarge

BH Photo #133242

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Pennypack Creek on Fetters Mill Road in Bryn Athyn
Location
Bryn Athyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Status
Intact but closed to all traffic
History
Built 1883; rehabilitated 1977
Design
Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 82.0 ft.
Total length: 85.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.1 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.13000, -75.07139   (decimal degrees)
40°07'48" N, 75°04'17" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/498577/4429977 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Hatboro
Average daily traffic (as of 2012)
3,280
Inventory numbers
PA 46 7046 1070 0027 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 88000832 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 27999 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 31354 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of April 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Imminent Failure (1 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 20 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

19th Century (8,382)
8-panel truss (512)
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (6)
Built 1883 (175)
Built during 1880s (2,171)
Closed (2,760)
Have street view (28,910)
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (235)
NR-listed (3,014)
One-lane traffic (7,835)
Owned by county (21,610)
 Pennsylvania (5,795)
Pin-connected (4,697)
Pratt through truss (6,057)
Pratt truss (10,299)
Span length 75-100 feet (6,652)
Steel grate deck (467)
Structurally deficient (12,882)
Sufficiency rating zero (192)
Through truss (16,792)
Total length 75-100 feet (6,793)
Truss (35,469)

Update Log 

  • July 5, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
  • May 14, 2017: Updated by Dave King: Added category "Steel grate deck"
  • May 13, 2017: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Bridge has been closed
  • October 30, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
  • October 21, 2009: Updated by Raymond Klein: Added NRHS date of 1988.
  • June 16, 2009: Updated by Raymond Klein: Added bridge info re National Register of Historical Places
  • February 10, 2009: New photos from Raymond Klein
  • January 23, 2009: Updated by Raymond Klein: Changed town from Philadelphia to Bryn Athyn & qurange frm Frankford to Germantown

Sources 

  • Raymond Klein - Bookshelfthe [at] msn [dot] com
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted May 3, 2017, by Grant Smith (grant [dot] m [dot] smith [at] intel [dot] com)

Bridge is now closed due to structural problems.

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted December 13, 2015, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Looks like the bridge will be restored!:

http://www.theintell.com/news/local/montgomery-county-reside...

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted December 4, 2013, by Art S. (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

An article with picture from Aptil 4, 2013 - previous temporary opening of the bridge:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/montco_memo/Bryn-Athyn-re...

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted November 4, 2013, by Art S. (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Another related article:

http://www.theintell.com/news/communities/willow-grove/montc...

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted November 1, 2013, by Jodi Christman (masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com)

Awesome! Glad to see residents and local officials opposed that measure knowing a new UCEB would detract from the Fetter’s Mill Village historic district. Can't wait to see it restored in late 2014!

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted October 29, 2013, by Art S. (Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Bridge to be restored by the county!

http://www.phillyburbs.com/00redesign/news/communities/willo...

Regards,

Art S.

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted October 18, 2009, by Samuel Yardumian (chiefengineer11 [at] verizon [dot] net)

Was this bridge originally built as truss bridge? I grew up (from birth to age 14) in sight of that bridge. I have dim memories of its being closed during the late '40s for reconstruction. I seem to recall that before that time, it was a stone arch bridge as were so common in Montgomery County.

When the bridge was reopened it had a wooden deck. Each summer a crew of county employees would come out and spend about a week or so replacing damaged deck boards.

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted October 6, 2009, by Robert Wise (bwise [at] wisepreservation [dot] com)

This bridge is in the heart of the Fetters Mill National Register Historic District, a village district in a wooded area of suburban Philadelphia. Every effort should be made to rehabilitate this bridge. Its traffic-calming one lane size is context sensitive to the village. Replacing it, as proposed, will increase traffic size and volume, introduce commuter traffic, and put the immediately adjacent c. 1749 Fetters Mill in jeopardy and ultimately destroy the village.

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted March 20, 2009, by Raymond Klein (Bookshelfthe [at] msn [dot] com)

This bridge is in my former hometown and I used to hang out betwen here and the former Reading Railroad Station and still in use Post Office at Bryn Athyn.

Fetters Mill Road Bridge
Posted April 21, 2008, by Bill Flis (flis [at] detk [dot] com)

Montgomery County (in which this bridge lies) is just outside Philadelphia City/County.