Monday, May 12, 2025

1973 100mw Cordell Hull Lock and Dam and Old Lock #7 on Cumberland River near Carthage, TN

Cordel: (Satellite)
Old Lock #7: (Satellite, I think that is the bank-side lock wall that remains.)   

2025 TVA Flood

Cordell Hull Lake posted 0:21 video
🌊 Power and Precision: Cordell Hull Dam in Action!
Right now [Feb 16, 2025], Cordell Hull Dam is releasing 55,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) of water—that’s like emptying an Olympic-sized swimming pool every two seconds! 💦
Controlled releases like this help manage water levels, reduce flood risks, and ensure safe navigation downstream. Dams play a crucial role in protecting communities and infrastructure, but they also require caution and awareness.
🚧 Stay Safe Around Dams:
⚠️ Always heed warning signs and barriers—water levels and currents can change rapidly.

Michael Davis 1:33 video

Marc Brumbaugh (magicnsc), Jul 2016, this part of a 360-degree view

Randy Glover, Oct 2023
[Looking at today's satellite image, they put a lot of fill in the river that they then had to remove.]

USACE, this is their idea of a high-resolution photo
The lock is 84' x 400' with a lift of 59'

"The Cordell Hull Dam, located on the Cumberland River in Tennessee, is a hydroelectric power project operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The dam, a combination earth fill and concrete-gravity structure, is 87 feet [26.5m] high and 1,306 feet [398m] long. It has a generator capacity of 100 megawatts. The dam's primary purpose is to generate electricity for the surrounding communities, including Gallatin, Carthage, and Cookeville. " [Google Search AI]

This shows how they draw down the lake level during Winter and Spring to create more capacity for flood control.
USACE_basin

Old Lock #7


This was one of 15 locks for the predecessor 6-foot waterway. Today's waterway uses four locks: " Lake Barkley, Cheatham Lake, Old Hickory Lake, and Cordell Hull Lake." [USACE]

Wood Family (Barefoottravelers), Nov 2023

It is nice when an area doesn't have metal thieves.
Sheperd Newton, Sep 2022

Lehigh Canal Lock #47 in Easton, PA

(Satellite)

Mark Madson, Jul 2019

I got the lock number of #47 from this post. Note that a bulkhead has been added between 2019 and 2025 at the upstream gate location to remove the water pressure on the wooden gate.
Metrotrails added
Lehigh Canal Lock 47, Easton Pa.
This was historically a double lock, and one of them had been kept in good repair for many years as part of Hugh Moore Park. Unfortunately, it appears to be in rough condition and braced up today.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

1883+1987 Low- and 1968 I-80 High-Level Bridges over Allegheny River at Emlenton, PA

High-Level: (Satellite)
Low-Level: (Satellite)

The dates in the title come from wikipedia_low.

High Level
Street View, Oct 2008

Low Level
Street View, Oct 2018
Note the high-level bridge in the right background.

Note how the depth of the truss makes the semi-trucks look small.
Street View, Oct 2018
 
S J, Apr 2022
 
Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Phil Martin Photography posted
The Emlenton Bridge on I80 sits in three counties Butler, Clarion and Venango County. It’s about 270 feet above the Allegheny River.

Jackson-Township historical preservation added
Keystone Shortway Bridge (I-80), over the Allegheny River at Emlenton, Venango County. This bridge is the highest in the East. This modern super-highway, between Sharon and Stroudsburg, provides the fastest direct route across the state and easy access to many choice recreational areas.
[I-80 in Pennsylvania is called the Keystone Shortway.]
Ken Rupert shared
As a teenager, I saw this bridge being built from the smaller bridge in the background! 🙂My Dad referred to the "Keystone Shortway Bridge" as the "Emlenton High Level Bridge" Was there a name for the smaller bridge other than the "Emlenton bridge" as I remember? Yes, the new I-80 bridge sure saved a Lot of time if you look at the winding roads in the picture! 😉

Comments on the above add

"With a height of 270 feet (82 m) above the river, the Emlenton Bridge was the highest bridge in the Interstate Highway System when completed in 1968." [wikipedia_high]

Historic Bridges has a lot of bridges in Venango County, but not these two. In fact, there are no bridges over the Allegheny River.

This image would be between 1968 and 1987.
ebay [at least three copies of this image were for sale.]

HAER_data
The Whipple trusses were made with wrought iron. This bridge was pictured in the 1885 catalog for the builder, the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, OH.
[My first thought is that it should have been saved as a trail bridge. But looking at a map, I guess there is nothing on the south side to walk/bike to. So are there any fish in this river? I guess it was rather high to function as a fishing pier.]

The picture in the 1885 catalog.
HAER PA,61-EML,1-
39. PORTAL ELEVATION. Photocopy of engraving from illustrated pamphlet titled 'Wrought Iron Bridges Built by Wrought Iron Bridge Company,' Wrought Iron Bridge Company, Canton, Ohio, 1885 (artist unknown). - Emlenton Bridge, Spanning Allegheny River, Travel Route 38 (Legislative Route 75), Emlenton, Venango County, PA

As expected, the truss was pin connected.
HAER PA,61-EML,1-
6. VIEW OF SOUTH ABUTMENT, LOOKING SOUTH

1900 Aban/IC Bridge over Salt Creek near Clinton, IL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Abandoned Illinois Railroad Bridges posted six photos with the comment: "Nestled into the Salt Creek valley, three miles south-east of Clinton, IL, this bridge stands as a silent relic of the Illinois Central Railroad's Havana District.  The main portion of the bridge is a 130' steel truss span that was constructed in 1900 to replace an older trestle pile bridge that had originally been built by the the line's predecessor (Champaign Havana & Western Railway).  The piles of that older wooden trestle can still be seen poking above the water's surface when the creek is low.  The west approach of this bridge is an impressive 256' trestle pile span that was built in 1910.  Maintenance on this division suffered serious neglect in the 1970s and 80s, and the line was finally abandoned officially in 1985, leaving this bridge as one of its most visible remains for the last 40 years."
Mike Sypult shared
Tom Biscan: Great photos! The Clinton to Champaign local took 8 hours just to make it in one direction in 1985! I know because I knew someone who worked that job. Crazy!
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Larry Candilas commented on the above post
1944 track chart

1957/58 Mora Quad @ 62,500


Saturday, May 10, 2025

1893,1956,2010 Singing (Bridge St.) Bridge over Kentucky River in Frankfort, KY

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter, search failed; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2018

Street View, Nov 2021

HistoricBridges
"Built in 1893 and with a main span of 405 feet [125m], this is an extremely long simple span truss bridge for its age."

James McCray photo via ArchivedBridgeHunter
"The US HWY 60 Bridge in Frankfort is known as the Singing Bridge. The bridge has a metal grate style deck which makes a unique 'humming' sound when vehicles drive over the structure."

HistoricBridges

March 2021 Flood


EquipmentWorld
"A marina that is believed to have broken free from a lake scraped bridges March 3 while floating down the flooded Kentucky River.
Source: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet"
 
EquipmentWorld

This video has real audio instead of music so that you can hear the scraping sound.
EquipmentWorld


April 2025 Flood

Facebook Reel

Valley View Ferry on Kentucky River uses a paddle wheel tug

(Satellite)

This ferry is a little upstream from Lock and Dam #9.

All things Kentucky posted
The oldest still working Ferry service in the USA..Lexington, Ky
Lloyd Scott Hardin shared
David Calvert: Valley View ferry on the Kentucky River between Nicholasville and Richmond, Ky
Dennis DeBruler: David Calvert Thanks for the information. I was able to find it: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rEHjkvuyXVVqRQ1R9
Ed Jenssen: Is that an actual, working paddle wheeler?
Shane Toomey: Ed Jenssen yes. In ~2014 the tug boat was replaced. The one from the picture and the current tug are true paddle wheelers.
Janet Conn: So how old is it?

Eric C: Apr 2022
 
Charles R Smith, Oct 2022

Dennis DeBruler commented on Janet's comment
It was established in 1785. Credit David Hammon, https://maps.app.goo.gl/uvn928M1oVLxVyGAA

Friday, May 9, 2025

BNSF/Santa Fe and I-35 Bridges over Red River near Gainesville, TX

Railroad: (Satellite)
I-35: (Satellite)
 
A June 2015 flood gives us a view of both bridges.
3:55 video @ 0:41

Street View, Aug 2024

Because of the trusses, we can see that two-thirds of the railroad bridge is over a tree-filled floodplain.
Satellite

This view makes it obvious that the girders for this bridge are made with steel instead of concrete. One generally does not see solid concrete fill between the columns of a pier. These piers were built exceptionally strong to withstand floods.
Street View, May 2023

They are spending $480m to build the bridges needed to add more lanes to I-35. [news9] (Why can't we get money to add more lanes to I-65 between Indianapolis and Chicagoland?) This is a Feb 12, 2025 view.
EchoSky Aerials

May 2025 Flood


May 4, 2025: I wonder where the crane went. I was expecting to see it up on the higher ground. If they have dug some cofferdams for some piers, they are full of water. It looks like at least some of the temporary trestle is intact because that is probably what is collecting the river debris.
0:37 video @ 0:04

"Dirt work on new approaches is well underway, but rising waters have damaged construction equipment left in the riverbed." [RoadsBridges

This looks like the same video and it provides a capture date of May 3, 2025.
Facebook Reel
EchoSky, LCC posted
 
May 7, 2025:
Storm Chaser Jordan Hall posted 1:58 video
Red River continues to flood near the I-35 Bridge on the Texas/Oklahoma border.
The flood gauge has come back down to 26 feet from the 38 it was flowing at 2 days ago. Looks like the bridge project was also destroyed.
Robyn Walters: normally it is just a thin line of water .

modis
May 6, 2025 - Flooding on the Red River and Lake Texoma

noaa
At 41.5', the floodwaters reach the low chord of the I-35 bridge.
The 2015 flood shown at the top of these notes was the record flood of 42.05'.