August updates

• Ashtabula County, Ohio, is set to open what they call the longest covered bridge in the United States (at 613 feet long), leaving New Hampshire's Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge in second place. However, New Hampshire will still hold bragging rights to the longest historic covered bridge in America, while Ohio's bridge looks more like a UCEB with a tin roof.

• Could it be? An historic bridge in Pennsylvania that is going to be saved? I'll believe it when I see it!

• Missouri's plan to replace 802 bridges under one massive contract has stalled because of economic woes.

• What happens when a bridge is closed for months and nobody knows who is responsible for maintaining it? Ray County, Missouri, has that problem.

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Guest Editorial: The Misunderstanding of the Public Towards Bridges STILL Exists

Being tied up with other matters over here in Germany, I have not been able to comment much on the situation regarding the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis one year after its collapse on 1 August, 2007, although I have been keeping up to date on the situation and even collecting articles for my personal archive.

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The Michigan Street Bridge Was Closed But Has Re-opened...Sort Of

A tip o' the hat to David Yates, who pointed out on the Michigan Street Bridge page that the bridge was open when he was in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin but police were monitoring traffic at each end - which set us to trying to find out what's going on.

According to the Door County Advocate, the Michigan Street Bridge in Door County was closed on July 21, due to structural deterioration that was discovered in an inspection. According to authorities, people ignoring the 5 ton weight limit put too much strain on the structure, forcing the bridge to be temporarily closed to verify its safety.

When it reopened on July 23, law enforcement officers began to monitor traffic to strictly enforce the 5 ton limit. The Green Bay Press Gazette reported that a truck towing a trailer got past the officers, but the driver received a citation at the other end of the bridge - an expensive toll for ignoring the weight limit.

The bridge is only open 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM when Police or Sheriff Department Officers will monitor traffic. It is barricaded between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM.

The historic bridge was supposed to be replaced by the new bridge that is under construction, but a popular campaign to save the old bridge succeeded. After the new bridge opens, any day now, the Michigan Street Bridge is scheduled to undergo rebuilding.The Wisconsin DOT will keep the bridge open for now, but an estimated $13 million restoration is due to begin next March. The bid process is still open, in case you'd like to get in on the action.

(David also provided the photo of the bridge.)

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Editorial: Fixing bridges the smart way

Now that we've reached the one year anniversary of the Minneapolis bridge disaster, it's not hard to find politicians and newspaper columnists lamenting the sorry state of the country's infrastructure. They all say the same thing: We need to spend more money!

Unfortunately, almost everybody wants to spend money on the wrong thing: replacement instead of maintenance. Even if enough money could be found to replace all of the nation's structurally deficient bridges, it wouldn't take long before these shiny new bridges fell into disrepair again.

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End of July updates

• The new Missouri River bridge at Bismarck, North Dakota, is set to open this week. This will replace the old Liberty Memorial Bridge, the only remaining Warren-Turner truss bridge.
• A wooden bridge on the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad near Reno, Minnesota, collapsed and was involved in a 27-car derailment.
• The New York Times reports on the two bridges in Mississippi County, Arkansas, available for adaptive reuse. It looks like the bridge offer has generated some interest.
• Folks in Charles City are asking for donations to help restore their lost suspension bridge.
• The Glasgow Bridge in Missouri is still slated for closure and demolition starting August 4. Glasgow will hold a bridge "Tribute and Jamboree" on August 2 to say farewell to the bridge before its conversion into a UCEB.
• An abandoned railroad line between Gordonville and Delta, Missouri, will likely be sold for scrap. The line has a handful of historic bridges, including a large through truss at Allenville. It's not clear what will happen to the bridges. Maybe this could be a rails-to-trails project?
• Good news in Branson, Missouri: The Lake Taneycomo Bridge will be preserved while a second parallel span is built to relieve traffic congestion.

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Missouri flash flooding destroys one bridge, spares another

The Columbia Bridge in Monroe County, Missouri, was wiped out by flash flooding on Saturday. This was a riveted through truss over Elk Fork of the Salt River.

Meanwhile, the same river threatened the Union Covered Bridge, only one of four authentic covered bridges remaining in Missouri. However, according to Charles Havens, volunteers were able to save the bridge by taking off the wood siding, allowing water to flow over and through the bridge, but without pushing it into the river.

Recent rainfall over portions of northern Missouri has been intense, possibly even record-setting, so I wouldn't be surprised if other bridges were damaged by flash floods.

In related news, we now know the final tally of railroad bridges destroyed by last month's Iowa floods: 17.

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Welcome, Rural Missouri readers

Yours truly is featured in this month's edition of Rural Missouri magazine. The article talks about the first bridge I photographed seriously, the Wappapello Bridge in Missouri. Sadly, this bridge was recently demolished to make way for -- you guessed it -- an Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge (UCEB). With this loss, and the recent closure of the Dolles Mill Bridge and Lowndes Bridge, only two pin-connected through truss bridges remain open to vehicular traffic in Southeast Missouri: Indian Ford Bridge and Wardell Bridge.

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July roundup

• Winneshiek County, Iowa, has received a $100,000 grant to save three historic bridges and use them on a bike trail.
• A bridge over Rock Creek in Dyer County, Tennessee, will be replaced soon. The article claims this is an 1870s bridge, but as a riveted Warren pony truss it probably dates from the 1920s.
• The Town Street Bridge in downtown Columbus, Ohio, was closed to traffic this week after failing an inspection. It was already scheduled for replacement next year.
• When New Hampshire announced plans to replace the Seavey Creek Bridge at Rye, they offered the wooden bridge for adaptive reuse. One person has submitted a proposal for relocating the bridge.
• The wreckage of the Charles City Bridge in Iowa has finally been removed from the river following its destruction during the June floods. It's not clear what will happen next.

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Foxburg Bridge Demolished

Mark Ellis reports that the Foxburg Bridge met its demise on July 24, 2008 when it was dropped into the Allegheny River. Mark posted his photos on the Foxburg Bridge page.

The demolition was also captured by The Derrick & News Herald that also reports a film crew was there from The Discovery Channel. Apparently the demolition will be part of a feature program sometime in the future.

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Wimer Covered Bridge restored

The Wimer Covered Bridge in Jackson County, Oregon, has been fully restored after it collapsed in 2003. It will be dedicated this Sunday, July 6. While Oregon still has roughly 50 covered bridges, Wimer is the only one open to vehicular traffic.

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