1867+1903-1974 Lost/NYNH&H Swing Bridges at Providence, RI

If you are here because of "Lost/Red Bridge (Manual Swing Bridge) at Providence, RI," then you need to go there.

1867: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter)

1903: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; HAER; Satellite)

HAER RI,4-PROV,204--1
1. View of bridge from Interstate 195 (Washington Bridge) looking southwest - India Point Railroad Bridge, Spanning Seekonk River between Providence & East Providence, Providence, Providence County, RI

HAER RI,4-PROV,204--12
12. View of swing span looking northeast

Matthew Chase posted

This is the same location as the original 1938 hurricane photo ,…

India Point Bridge

Fox Point 

Providence, Rhode Island

I think I found Matthew's hurricane photo.

Matthew Chase posted

We are heading back to Providence, RI

Steven Allen 

1938 hurricane in Providence—Tidal wave surged over New Haven Railroad tracks, wrecking freight sheds

1867 Bridge:

BridgeHunter_1867

1921 photo from Providence Journal files via BridgeHunter_1903
Looking North

I got this closeup of the fixed spans because I noticed in a street view that they still existed in the 21st Century.

HAER RI,4-PROV,204--21
21. View of approach span, looking east 

In fact, they still existed in Apr 2023.

Google Earth, Apr 2023

Just a month later, the only thing that was left is the construction barge. Was this yacht club like the one in Port Huron that thought history looked ugly?

Google Earth, May 2023

It appears that this bridge was used by an industrial spur to just a few industries in India Point Park. So why was it double tracked? It seems that one track would be sufficient for a short industrial spur.

1957/59 Providence Quad @ 24,000

1832 Delaware Canal from Easton to Bristol, PA

If you are here because of " 1904,1984,2010 Riegelsville Bridge over Delaware River and Trail Bridge over Delaware Canal," then you need to go there.

The state bought the canal in 1940 and has preserved the towpath and many of the locks as a state park.

Facebook Reel

 

1967 Paris Road Green Bridge over Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near New Orleans, LA

If you are here because of the Green Island Bridge at Troy, NY, then you need to go there.

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Unlike most cantilever bridges that have a relatively small suspended span in the middle, this bridge has a huge tied-arch suspended span. The 6,622' (2018m) long bridge has a main span of 702' (214m). [HistoricBridges]

Street View, Jul 2011

The bridge is so long because the approaches have to gain a height of 135' (41m) clearance with a reasonable grade. The average daily use in 2016 was 29,900 with 7% truck usage. [Archived National Bridge Inventory Report]

Brian Nicolich, Aug 2018

Street View, Mar 2023

Nov 2024: DOT is closing the bridge during a couple of weekends as part of a $45m restoration project.

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office posted

The bridge restoration work will return the bridge to it original green color.

fox8live

Was 1930 Lincoln Highway Bridge over Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia, PA

If you are here because of "1930 Lincoln Highway Bridge over Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia, PA," then you should go there.

Wa1905,1954 Wayne Six/Newell Toll Bridge over Ohio River at East Liverpool, OH

If you are here because of "1905,1954 Wayne Six/Newell Toll Bridge over Ohio River at East Liverpool, OH," then you should go there.

1925 UP/SP Bridge over Gila River near Grande Vista, AZ

If you are here because of the "1840+1893 Trail/NS/(Southern+L&N) Bridge over Tennessee River at Florence, AL," then you need to go there.

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

On the same day I learned about this bridge, I learned about another long bridge over dirt.

This 1824' (556m) bridge has 12 150' (45.7m) spans. [BridgeHunter]

I wonder how often this river actually has some water in it.

Street View, Apr 2024

This seems to be the main channel of the river, and when there is water, they just let it flow over the road.

Street View, Apr 2024

cmh2315fl Flickr
Union Pacific Railroad Gila River Bridge (Yuma County, Arizona)
Historic railroad bridge over the Gila River in Yuma County, Arizona. The bridge is a 12-span Warren through truss built by the American Bridge Company in 1925 for the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific Railroad). It is considerably longer than the older nearby Antelope Hill Bridge which had to be abandoned due to yearly flood damage.

rshantz

Photocyclemike Michael Pellegrino posted four photos with the comment: "Union Pacific Railroad Gila River Bridge

Grande Vista, Arizona"

1

2

3

4

1900 Trail/Reading Pencoyd Bridge over Schuylkill River at Philadelphia, PA

(Satellite)

The Pencoyd Bridge is now also a trail bridge. [BicycleCoalition] The trail is cantilevered on the side of the bridge because the bridge itself provides vehicle access to some buildings on the west side of the river. (A source implied that the cantilevered passage was always there, but it carried a horse&wagon road while the bridge carried an industrial spur.)

Street View, Jul 2019

If you are here because of this nearby concrete arch bridge, then you need to go there.

Street View, Jul 2019

This view shows that the trusses are skewed so that the piers are parallel to the flow of the water.

TaylorWiseman
"The structure, originally built in 1900 as a railroad bridge, consists of two 183-foot truss spans and one built-up through-plate girder span."

It looks like a pin-connected truss.

B ES, Mar 2020

Yep, it is pin connected.

wje
"Constructed in 1900, the privately owned Pencoyd Bridge was built to carry an industrial spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 2016, the bridge was rehabilitated to a one-lane, reversible private roadway providing vehicular access between the Royal Athena apartment complex in Lower Merion Township and Main Street in Manayunk."
[Looking at the topo map, I don't see how this spur connected to the Pennsy.
This source says it was built in 1894 by the Pencoyd Iron Works. But that source was ChatGPT, so I don't trust it. And the text is a good example of how you can use a lot of words but still say very little by repeating, several times, a few concepts.]

The Pencoyd Iron Works used to be on the land between the railroad and the river.

MickRicereto

 

ThisIsLowerMerion
The iron works built the metal parts for the Main Exibition Building for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, then the largest building in the world.

The remnents of the iron works have been gentrified as the Pencoyd Landing.

land-collective, this webpage has a lot more photos of the Pencoyd Landing

The Manayunk trail shows up on the Philadelphia Parks trail map, but the Pencoyd trail does not.

1933,2024 US-281 (Originally US-66) Pony Bridges over South Canadian River near Bridgeport, OK

If you are here because of "EVWR/L&N and Aban/Big Four Bridge over Little Wabash River at Carmi, IL," then you need to go there.

1933: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges) Names: Pony, Bridgeport and William H. Murray

2024: (Satellite) 

US-66 Overview

On the same day I learned about this bridge, I learned about another long bridge over dirt.

This 3,944' (1202m, 3/4 mile) long bridge has 38 100' (30.5m) pony truss spans. It is probably the longest pony truss bridge in the USA. [HistoricBridges] 

It was also the longest bridge on Route 66. [kfor]

Street View, Apr 2022

In 2024, the bridge was replaced by a wider bridge, but the truss webs were retained as decoration.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation via HistoricBridges

Jan 2008 photo by Joe Sonderman via BridgeHunter

Photo of the new bridge by Russell Teague via HistoricBridges, cropped

 

stvinc
2026 is the centennial anniversary of Route 66 and Oklahoma maintains 400 miles of that route.

Old Bridge: 

Alan Davenport posted
Old US 66 Canadian River Bridge
Mother Bridge of the Mother Road
Dennis DeBruler Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9YAjZ1eDqLVf1gau8

New Bridge:

Mike Roquemore commented on Alan's post

John Albert Christeson Jr. posted
South Canadian River Bridge....(38 Pony Truss) US 281....(historic US 66) Bridgeport OK

Patrick O'Donnell: The 38 pair of pony trusses no longer serve any structural (load bearing) purpose, they're now purely decorative.

Mike Roquemore commented on Patrick's comment
yup just a modern boring bridge underneath. At least they kept the truss elements for looks!

Route 66 Information Station posted
The historic Pony Bridge (officially the William H. Murray Bridge) is located west of Geary and El Reno, Oklahoma, on Route 66.  It is 3,944 feet long, with 38 distinctive steel pony trusses, and crosses the South Canadian River in Bridgeport.  The bridge is the longest bridge of its kind in the US.  It was featured in the 1940 film "The Grapes of Wrath."

Don Lindsley posted

Arshaka Mahendra posted

Then and Now: Route 66 🌵

Bridgeport Bridge, Oklahoma, built in 1933, is the longest bridge on Oklahoma’s Route 66, stretching over 3,900 feet. Known as the “Pony Bridge” for its 38 camelback trusses. 🚗🛣️

John qualley commented on Arshaka's post
stable.

Linda Suskie posted

Th National Park Service has called the road from El Reno to Hydro one of the great drives on Route 66. The pavement is original from the 1930s, and the scenery of rolling hills is probably very similar to what it looked like in the 1930s...no modern structures. We loved this drive.

Along the way is the magnificent William H. Murray Pony Bridge, site of one of the scenes in the Grapes of Wrath. It is an amazing feat for the 1930s...seems to go on forever. It was recently rebuilt, but the original pony trusses were preserved and reattached to the new bridge. There's now a compass at one end in tribute to the engineers who designed it.

ODOT photos of the original construction

This photo has been moved to here.

Was I-278 1964+1969 Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge between Staten Island and Brooklyn

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

Whoops, this was another <favorite strong language word> duplicate. Info has been moved to the original post. If you are here because of a photo link, please look in the original post for the photo.

1949,1981 Memorial Bridge over Kennebec River in Augusta, ME

If you are here because of "C&NW Haven Road (HM) Tower in Elmhurst, IL," then you need to go there.

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

 

Postcard via BridgeHunter

Street View, Oct 2016

River View, Nov 2020

 

Bridges Now and Then posted
"A scanned image of a black and white photograph of a bridge in Augusta, Maine, taken in July, 1949." (Image courtesy of Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, DigitalCommons@UMaine)

This photo has been moved to "C&NW Haven Road (HM) Tower in Elmhurst, IL"