Rating:
63614
{99}%
1 vote
Batey Columbia - Puente Río Maunabo
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)
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