Planned Location: (Satellite)
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| TheSunTimesNews, Photo courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, Michigan State Historic Preservation Office/National Park Service |
Because the fieldstone abutments were failing, the truss was moved onto land. It has since been put into storage by the county.
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| 2016 photo by Rick McOmber via BridgeHunter |
The county plans to use it as a bridge for a new trail.
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| TheSunTimesNews "This conceptual rendering shows the planned reconstruction of the historic 1891 Bell Road Bridge as part of the B2B’s Dexter Connection. Once rebuilt, the restored iron truss bridge will carry pedestrians and cyclists across Mill Creek, linking the trail to Mill Creek Park and downtown Dexter. Courtesy of Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission." |
HistoricBridges explains that Michigan has lost a lot of truss bridges because the fieldstone abutments failed. This bridge was a case in point.
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| 2016 photo by Rick McOmber via BridgeHunter |
It is obviously pin connected.
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| 2016 photo by Rick McOmber via BridgeHunter |
Great find — pin-connected trusses with fieldstone abutments are exactly the combination that did in so many 19th-century Michigan bridges once the stone started shifting. Good to see the county repurposing it for the Border-to-Border trail instead of scrapping it; preserving an 1891 iron truss as a pedestrian crossing over Mill Creek is a nice second life. Any word on the expected timeline for the Dexter Connection reconstruction?
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