This bridge now serves a access or private road and appears to have retired only recently from public service.
The bridge was first viewed from a distance south of the bridge. If you are attempting to find this bridge from the north side of the river, you won't.
Above is the southern approach to the bridge. I believe that the bridge originally was four thru-spans, but the southern most one probably washed out or collapsed. A future visit to the bridge may yield more information. Tire tracks in the dirt and on the bridge seem recent.
This bent compression member seems to tell us why the bridge isn't publicly used anymore. The thin lacing bars and lightweight channel should date this bridge to about c. 1905. This buckled member was found on the north most span.
Below we are looking thru the bridge to the south. This bridge is a very traditional design pin-connected thru truss. The hip vertical in each span is a 1 inch by 1 inch rod. From this rod the first floor beam hangs, the upper end of the rod is the hip pin, which connects the endpost to the upper chord
Also visible in the picture below is the missing primary tension eye bar connecting to the center bottom pin. You should be able to see this on the right side of the photograph. All primary diagonal tension members in this bridge are paired eye bars, the single diagonals are counter-ties.
This final picture is looking north again. The bridge has a very high portal clearance, and the portal braces have never been struck. The flooring system is entirely wood. Wood planks rest on 6x10 stringers spanning between the floor beams, which are steel. Surprisingly, even in its present condition, the bridge is still serviceable.
37N2935E0750008
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