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Batey Columbia - Puente Río Maunabo

Maunabo, Puerto Rico

Photos 

View Of West Side, From River Bed

Photo taken by Roberto Avilés for the Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #301448

Map 

Description 

The Batey Columbia Railroad Bridge is one of the few Warren Pony Truss Railroad Bridges which survive in Puerto Rico. The Central Columbia sugar mill, of which several buildings survive near the bridge, had a narrow-gauge, portable rail system for hauling sugar cane. At the time when this bridge was erected, Columbia had closed down and its rail system was hauling cane to a weighting and hoisting station on its former grounds. From there it was transported by truck to the one-meter railroad belonging to the Central Lafayette sugar mill. This trucking operation was the first large scale sugar cane road transportation venture in Puerto Rico. This bridge has been judges as eligible for National Register listing by the PR SHPO.

The bridge's superstructure is a Warren pony truss with riveted connections and alternate vertical elements, reinforced with external triangular bracing. The upper chord is a box section with an open-lattice lower flange. The superstructure is 7' 9" high and 12' 6" wide. One of the steel elements bears a low-relief inscription which reads: CARNEGIE C USA

The truss is supported by concrete abutments which leave a 13-foot clearance above the river's surface. The abuttments, which have some architectural details, have diagonal wings.

-- Historic American Engineering Record

Facts 

Overview
Lost Warren pony truss bridge over Maunabo River on Batey Columbia Railroad
Location
Maunabo, Puerto Rico
Status
Removed but not replaced
History
Built 1933-1935; Abandoned; Removed 1993
Builder
- Puerto Rico Iron Works of Playa de Ponce, Puerto Rico
Railroad
- Batey Columbia Railroad
Design
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals
Dimensions
Total length: 72.6 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+18.00475, -65.90527   (decimal degrees)
18°00'17" N, 65°54'19" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
20/192341/1993123 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Yabucoa
Inventory number
BH 63614 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Batey Columbia Railroad (1)
Built 1935 (1,490)
Built during 1930s (12,164)
HAER documented (1,122)
Lost (28,402)
Lost 1993 (474)
Lost during 1990s (4,140)
Maunabo, Puerto Rico (2)
Pony truss (17,004)
 Puerto Rico (177)
Puerto Rico Iron Works (2)
Railroad (16,452)
Riveted (2,507)
Total length 50-75 feet (9,564)
Truss (35,396)
Warren pony truss (3,554)
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals (784)
Warren truss (6,997)

Update Log 

  • February 14, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added builder
  • October 13, 2014: Added by Dave King

Sources 

  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • HAER PR-33 - Batey Columbia Railroad Bridge, Spanning Maunabo River, Maunabo, Maunabo Municipio, PR
  • Luke

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