Foundry Road Bridge
Photos
Foundry Road Bridge
Western approach
Photo taken by Michael Quiet in September 2015
BH Photo #337423
Description
This remarkable wrought iron pony truss stands as Vermont's oldest metal highway bridge that still serves vehicular traffic in a unaltered state. While there are older extant examples such as the Elm Street Bridge in Woodstock (1870 Parker patent pony truss), these have been modified with load bearing stringers. Aside from this fact, the bridge has several other noteworthy features that contribute to its historical significance.The first point to note is the fabricator of this bridge: The Vermont Construction Company of St. Albans, VT. This bridge is one of only 3 remaining examples from this small company, and is the oldest of them. Many more examples of bridges were fabricated by this company in the last 2 decades of the 19th century, but they never commanded a large market share during their time, making them uncommon even while in production.
The second point would be the construction method: This is a riveted truss bridge, making it among the older examples of a bridge that employed this construction method. While not the oldest, it is still very significant as a early example, and reflects the innovative nature of the Vermont Construction Company.
Of note, although not as significant, are some of the details of the bridge. The upper chord (except for the endposts) are open built up box members, with the top being comprised of x lacing, and the bottom being battens built into the box member (as opposed to resting outside of it). The vertical compression members are tapered web posts, as opposed to a more common parallel configuration.
The bridge underwent an extensive reconstruction in 2010. The lower chord and floorbeams received the most amount of work, with a significant amount of the original rivets being replaced with bolts. However the trusses themselves had no rivet replacement, meaning that the easily visible part of the bridge retains an exceptional amount of historical integrity.
Facts
- Overview
- Warren pony truss bridge over First Branch White River on C3025 in Tunbridge
- Location
- Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1889 by Vermont Construction Co., rehabilitated 2010
- Builder
- - Vermont Construction Co. of St. Albans, Vermont
- Design
- Warren pony truss with alternating verticals
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 71.9 ft.
Total length: 74.2 ft.
Deck width: 11.5 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 2007
- Also called
- First Branch White River Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +43.91462, -72.47679 (decimal degrees)
43°54'53" N, 72°28'36" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/702588/4865484 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Chelsea
- Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
- 30
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 07000692 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 33988 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of November 2017)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 51.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- May 30, 2020: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: Added NRHP listing
- September 9, 2015: Updated by Michael Quiet: Added categories "Riveted", "Wrought Iron", Added pictures and info
- June 20, 2014: Updated by Clark Vance: Corrected type, added history
Sources
- Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
- Glenn A. Knoblock, Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont - History and photo
- Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
- Geoff Hubbs
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