Gay Street Bridges over Tennessee River in Knoxville, TN

1873: (Archived Bridge Hunter)

1880: (Archived Bridge Hunter) Called the Saulpaw Bridge because it was built by GW Saulpaw.

1897,2005-2024: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite) 

The bridge failed its Jun 24, 2024, bridge inspection. They are now working on repairing it well enough to be a pedestrian bridge.

Street View, Jan 2025

Wikimedia
The old Gay Street Bridge, or "Saulpaw" bridge, as it appeared on an 1886 map of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. This bridge was a wooden Howe truss bridge, built by G. W. Saulpaw in 1880. It was replaced by the current Gay Street Bridge in 1898. Cropped from map entitled, "Knoxville, Tennessee, County Seat of Knox County."

Faylor Holland posted

Tennessee River, Knoxville, Tennessee, before 1897...

Caption

Lucile Bordon, before 1897, on the Tennessee River at wharf at Knoxville.  Paddle wheel boat.  Shows old Gay Street Bridge.  The boat could go up to Sevierville when water was high from flooding...

Source

Knox County Two Centuries Photograph Project

Lloyd Scott Hardin shared

KnoxvilleHistoryProject
"The third bridge, often known as the County Bridge, that stood from 1881 to 1898. (McClung Historical Collection.)"

2008 Photo taken by Calvin Sneed via ArchivedBridgeHunter
"Knoxville's Oldest Bridge, a Spandrel-braced (cantilever) arch bridge built in 1897. View looking southbound."

KnoxvilleTN
A copy of the original Gay Street Bridge design by C.E. Fowler

HistoricBridges
The 1,512' (461m) long bridge has a main span of 252' (77m).

KnoxvilleHistoryProject, 2023 by Shawn Poynter

KnoxvilleTN
After an inspection found a booboo, the bridge was closed on Jun 25, 2024.
Sep 17, 2024: $850,000 was approved by the city council to fund an engineering study concerning the repair of the bridge.
Feb 12, 2025:

• City announces plan to ask City Council for $2 million to repair and reopen the Gay Street Bridge to pedestrians and cyclists.

• Additional load rating analysis announced in hopes the bridge can also be opened to limited emergency and Knoxville Area Transit vehicles.

• Estimated repair completion-early 2026.

1810 Ten Locks, 1900-11 Inclined Plane and Museum near Foxton, UK

10 Locks: (Satellite, 12,682 photos!)

Incline Plane: (Satellite)

"Two staircases of five locks each make this the largest staircase on the British canal system." [forgot to note my source]

Three comments on a post:

1, Andy Cole

2, Nigel Powell, cropped

3, Andy Cole
Here’s my view from the bridge Nigel. Caen Hill. Did this last year. 29 locks. Hard work but worth it.

 

Bruce Jackson posted
The Foxton Flight Locks in England are two sets of five stepped locks with a basin in the middle, allowing boats to pass at the halfway point.

The inclined plane was built in 1900 to allow larger boats, increase the capacity and reduce water usage. But another bottleneck on the canal remained so the additional capacity was never used. Since the locks were good enough and cheaper to operate, the lift closed in 1911. [fipt_lift]

fipt

Paul Allen, Aug 2023

Miami & Erie Canal in Cincinnati, OH

(Satellite, It followed Central Parkway into town and turned East here. Going east is the stretch in the photo below.)

According to the topo map below, the canal turned South a half-block east of Sycamore Street and terminated three blocks later. I'm surprised that it did not go down to the Ohio River.

Roads Traveled Through Time posted

The Miami and Erie Canal in Cincinnati, Ohio looking east with Mount Adams in the distance.  

abt 1905

1914/14 West Cincinnati Quad @ 62,500

Hennepin Canal Aqueduct #4 over King Creek near Mineral, IL

(Satellite)

Hennepin Canal Overview

John Vize posted
Have you ever seen a Steamboat go across a river in the air?  Now you have.
Dennis DeBruler shared

Dennis DeBruler: This was Aqueduct #4 of the Hennepin Canal,

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3948102,-89.8290122,165m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1.

Logan Fahr commented on John's post, cropped

Comments on John's post

1939 O'Neal Bridge over Tennessee River at Florence, AL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Bridge Hunter calls it a cantilever bridge, but Historic Bridges states "this is an early surviving example of a design of continuous truss bridge unique to Alabama."

Street View, Feb 2025

This 2,071' (631m) long bridge has a main span of 420' (128m). [HistoricBridges]

The railroad bridge behind this road bridge is now a fishing pier.

Street View, Oct 2022

Scot McKinney, May 2017

Anthony Poston posted
O’Neil Bridge today from McFarland Park

HistoricBridges

1845-1886 7-Mile Alexandria Canal

Lock #1: (Satellite) Southern terminus

Lock #4: (Satellite, just east of Pitt Street and a little north of Montgomery Street.)

The northern terminus was the Aqueduct Bridge that connected with the C&O Canal in Georgetown.

AlexandriaVA, p1

I spent a lot of time trying to find Lock #1. I even got the oldest topo map that I could find. Nothing made sense. I finally discovered that North is on the right-hand side of the above map and that the four locks were between Montgomery and First Streets. With the correct orientation of the map, I quickly found Canal Center, which is a preservation of Lock #1 or the Tidal Lock.

.

Lock #1

Satellite

 

AlexandriaVA_revealing
"Archaeological excavations of the tidelock and basin, 1982, facing east."

Jason Gallo, Nov 2023

.

Lock #4

Alexandria Archaeology Museum posted
Introducing Canal Fact Friday! This winter, archaeologists uncovered the partial remains of Lock No. 4 and the third basin of the Alexandria Canal on the 900 Block of North Pitt Street. The Alexandria Canal opened in 1845 as a connector between Alexandria's waterfront and the C&O Canal in Georgetown. It was not an easy feat to keep it open - it was expensive to maintain and wasn't reliable thanks to fluctuations in water level, mechanical breaks, winter freezes, and disruption during the Civil War. When the Aqueduct Bridge that connected the Alexandria Canal to Georgetown broke in 1886, it cut off direct access to the C&O forcing the permanent closure of the Alexandria Canal. Read the latest canal updates at alexandriava.gov/go/6378.

AlexandriaVA_revealing
"Uncovering the canal lock, in progress, in December 2024, facing northeast. Two concrete footers of the 1980s building can be seen on the right (or south) side of the photo. "

1951,1981,2015 Mansfield Bridge over Monongahela River at McKeesport and Dravosburg, PA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; pghbridges;  Satellite)

This 1,934' (589.5m) long bridge has a main span of 500' (152.4m). [HistoricBridges]

The clearance is 65.3' (20m). [pghbridges]

Street View, Aug 2021

Boat View, Feb 2021

Plan via HistoricBridges
"Reportedly, this bridge was under construction by 1948 and was made from steel specifically sourced from the melted scrap of the Wabash Bridge."

HistoricPittsburgh
Aerial view of the William D. Mansfield Memorial Bridge

Jacob H. Ford Photography posted

Here's a shot I took last weekend, of a towboat, the Megan Ames traveling up the river, from near the old "Paule's Lookout" location, looking out over the valley. I shared a similar image from this same location last week, of just this towboat in a tighter frame traveling under the Mansfield Bridge, but this shot also includes U.S. Steel Irvin Works in West Mifflin, farther up the valley on the other side of Dravosburg. This shot has the perfect mix of industry, nature, and everything that the Mon Valley is known for, all in one frame. Enjoy!

Photo taken: March 15, 2025

📸: Jacob H. Ford Photography— in West Mifflin, PA.

HistoricPittsburgh
Construction of the Dravosburg Bridge