Rating:
36241
{92}%
1 vote
Hobbs Bridge
Photos
Overview
This bridge is preserved but with deck and approaches removed.
Photo taken by James McCray
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BH Photo #111609
Description
Technical name is a pin-connected Baltimore Petit through truss, built with 2 pin-connected Pratt half-hip pony trusses on either end (both removed in 1987). The top chords and end posts are channels with lacing. The verticals are small channels with lacing, except the hip verticals and the half verticals from the midpoiint to the bottom chord that are paired with rectilinear eyerods. The bottom floor beams are "V" chevron-shaped, common in early bridges but phased out by the 1890's. This may have been one of the last vehicular Baltimore Petit's, with the chevron-shaped floor beams, rendering it historic indeed. The original masonry abutments were later repaired and strengthened with concrete. The historical marker is incorrect; although this is the only vehicular Baltimore (Petit) truss bridge in Tennessee, one other Baltimore truss bridge is still in use in Cocke County on the Norfolk-Southern Railroad crossing the French Broad River. Those are the only two Baltimore (Petit) through truss bridges in Tennessee.
Facts
- Overview
- Baltimore through truss bridge over Elk River on J.D. Suggs Road
- Location
- Lincoln County, Tennessee
- Status
- Derelict/abandoned
- History
- Built 1891. Bridge closed to traffic. Deck and approaches removed in 1987.
- Design
- Pin-connected Baltimore Petit through truss with two pin-connected Pratt half-hip pony truss approach spans
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 304.0 ft.
Total length: 408.5 ft.
Deck width: 12.6 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +35.09915, -86.74265 (decimal degrees)
35°05'57" N, 86°44'34" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/523455/3884068 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Taft
- Elevation
- 624 ft. above sea level
- Inventory number
- BH 36241 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- April 4, 2013: New photos from Johnny C Barrett
- March 31, 2013: New photos from Johnny C Barrett
- September 17, 2011: New photos from James McCray
- June 16, 2011: Updated by Calvin Sneed: Added specifications and historical perspective.. may be the only vehicular Baltimore Petit through truss still standing in Tennessee
- June 13, 2011: New photos from Calvin Sneed
- September 27, 2008: New photos from James McCray
- July 14, 2008: Updated by James McCray: Updated gps coordinates
- February 8, 2008: Added by James McCray
Sources
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
- HAER TN-23 - Hobbs Bridge, Spanning Elk River on Curtis Road (A494), Coldwater vicinity, Lincoln County, TN
- Calvin Sneed - us43137415 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Johnny C Barrett - jcarsonbarrett [at] gmail [dot] com
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
Picture and history of the bridge:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/caving/13218526434