Rating:
7 votes

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge

Spartanburg County, South Carolina

Photos 

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge from the North

Photo taken by herdintheupstate

View this photo at panoramio.com

BH Photo #262041

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Abandoned pratt through truss bridge over Rainbow Lake on Rainbow Lake Road
Location
Spartanburg County, South Carolina
Status
Abandoned
Design
Pinned Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 143.0 ft.
Total length: 230.0 ft.
Deck width: 12.0 ft.
Also called
South Pacolet River Reservoir Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.11218, -81.98777   (decimal degrees)
35°06'44" N, 81°59'16" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/409986/3885929 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Valley Falls
Inventory number
BH 50572 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Abandoned (3,682)
Deck removed (44)
Have street view (27,066)
One-lane traffic (7,613)
Pin-connected (3,920)
Pony truss (16,241)
Pratt through truss (5,426)
Pratt truss (9,347)
Riveted (2,183)
 South Carolina (514)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,236)
Spartanburg County, South Carolina (94)
Through truss (15,181)
Total length 175-250 feet (4,285)
Truss (32,961)
Warren pony truss (3,370)
Warren truss (6,581)

Update Log 

  • August 15, 2013: Updated by Michael Miller: Corrected "Bridge Name", "Alternate Names", "Carries", "Crosses" and "Overview"
  • August 9, 2013: Photo imported by Dave King
  • December 17, 2011: Updated by J.P.: Added categories "One-lane traffic", "Pin-connected", "Riveted", "Deck removed"

Sources 

  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Michael Miller - michael_a_miller [at] yahoo [dot] com
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Comments 

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted March 7, 2020, by Melissa Brand-Welch (melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com)

After a bit of searching I believe it was built between 1903-1904. Still looking for documentation

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted March 7, 2020, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

No gauging station listed at this location in 2020. Photo caption mentions toll booth.

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted March 7, 2020, by Alden J (fakeemail [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Does anyone know when this bridge was built? It looks like an early 20th century truss bridge, but could be older.

Some interesting info on the lake itself. Rainbow lake was a popular swimming/community location for 40 years until closing for renovation in 1967. It never reopened. Some say due to budget, but most say due to the civil rights act which would have made the swimming spot(and I believe there was a large lodge there which would have been the renovation) integrated, rather than seeing this happen, the community just let nature slowly retake the area.

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted September 26, 2019, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I agree that it most likely is part of an old gauging station.

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted September 26, 2019, by Barry (bllauver33 [at] gmail [dot] com )

I'm not familiar with the bridge, but it could be a gauging station.

Old Rainbow Lake Bridge
Posted September 25, 2019, by Jerry Radford (airitude [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Does anyone know what the booth on one end of the bridge were? Was it maned?