Industrial History: bridgeArch

Showing posts with label bridgeArch. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2026

1911,1918 Fernbridge over Eel River near Fortuna, CA, was largest concrete bridge

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

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Building Fernbridge (Fortuna, California) in 1911. When this 1320-foot bridge was built in 1911, it was referred to as the world’s largest all-concrete span. Also called Eel River Bridge, Fernbridge is listed on the National Historic Register for its engineering significance during the period of 1900 to 1924." (USGS)

BridgeHunter has the stats of 2408' (734m) long with a span of 195' (59.4m). It also provides a rehabilitation date of 1918.

BridgeHunter

That strikes me as rather shallow arches.

BridgeHunter

BridgeHunter, 2009 photo by Craig Philpott

BridgeHunter, 2018 photo by Mike Goff

I wonder what rehabilitation work was needed just 7 years after it was built. I checked out Wikipedia. The work replaced wooden approaches with the current concrete ramps. I also learned that this bridge "is still the longest functional poured concrete bridge in operation in the world."

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Court Street Dam and Bridges on Genesee River in Rochester, NY

Dam: (Satellite)

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

Dam Bridge: (Historic Bridges)

Erie Canal overview

Looking upstream (South) at Court Street Bridge from Broad Street Bridge.

Street View, Jun 2025

View looking upstream at Court Street Dam and Bridge from Court Street Bridge. The I-490 Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge is in the background.

Street View, Jun 2017

I wonder if the public can use this bridge over the dam.

HistoricBridges

Because the Genesee River intersects with the Barge Canal upstream from here, the dam controls the level of the canal. Thus the "canalErie" label on these notes.

3 of the 4 images posted by Jeff Miller with the comment:

I’m taking a walk around Rochester this afternoon, April 12, 2026.
The Court Street Dam is keeping Rochester’s Barge Canal Inner Harbor from flooding over the embankments today; lots of water flow on the Genesee!

a, a screenshot from a video

c, cropped

Because the dam is just a little downstream of the I-490 bridge, all of the views I have seen of that bridge have about the same river level. Instead of the river level changing, the flow rate in the river changes.

HighSteel via Dennis DeBruler

The dam was built with a bunch of sluice gates.

Digitally Zoomed, 2x

By 1927, the sluice gates were replaced with sector gates.

Digitally Zoomed

Actually, the operation of these gates should be like bear trap gates in that values can be used instead of pumps. To raise a gate, valves on the upstream side of the chamber are opened. To lower the gate, valves on the downstream side of the chamber are opened.

Digitally Zoomed, 2x

In all of the views and photos I have looked at of the dam, they lowered the sector gates before they let the water flow over the fixed weir on the east side. So this photo of the sector gates being dry while the weirs are spilling water caught my eye. Looking closer, they are not using the sector gates because they are doing construction in the downstream river bed.

Ethan Corona, Dec 2019

I wish I could read the text.

Ethan Corona, Dec 2019

And this is what all of that spilled water is doing downstream at the former aqueduct.

Facebook Reel

Friday, April 10, 2026

Road Bridges over Little Wabash River in Carmi, IL

1878: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1916: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter)

1949,1999: (no Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Lisa Ruble posted

CARMI BRIDGE IS RAZED BY STORM ON JUNE 21, 1915

Dwellings, barns and telephone poles felt the force of the storm.

Bridge across the Little Wabash north of Carmi in the summer of 1915. The bridge had replaced an 1841 covered bridge in 1878. Plans were being made in September 1915 to build a new bridge.

JUNE 5. 1915

Carmi --Following the continuous rains a portion of the west abutment of the wagon bridge across the Little Wabash River at this place fell Wednesday morning, June 2nd, making the bridge very unsafe. The bridge has been condemned for a number of years following the happening Wednesday, the approaches to the bridge were nailed up and traffic across it was stopped. The foot walk is not closed, and people are allowed to walk the bridge. A large portion of the sandstone abutment that has not fallen at the west end is badly cracked. It is not known definitely yet just what steps will be taken in the matter. It is probable that a state engineer will be called to Carmi to inspect the bridge and the council will probably act on his advice.

Sources: Edwardsville Intelligencer (1915), Mount Carmel Evening Register (1915)

Carmi Sesquicentennial book 1816-1916 via Melissa Brand-Welch via BridgeHunter_1878

BridgeHunter_1878

1916 Bridge

BridgeHunter_1916

The 1949 (current) bridge is a steel-girder bridge with 84' (25.6m) spans. It was rehabilitated in 1999. [BridgeHunter_1949]

1957,1992+202? I-476 Hawk Falls Bridges over Mud Run in Carbon County, PA

1957: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Bridges Now and Then posted
"View of the Hawk Falls Bridge under construction. The image is from July 26, 1956." (Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives)

modjeski

modjeski
"The Hawk Falls Bridge Replacement Project is progressing, with construction estimated to commence in 2021. The replacement Hawk Falls Bridge will be a 720’ [219m] long steel structure featuring a 480’ [146m] deck arch span flanked by four 60’ [18.3m] deck plate girder spans. As with the current bridge, the new bridge will carry two traffic lanes in each direction, but it will also provide 12’ wide outside shoulders and 6’ wide median shoulders. Three welded, steel box arch ribs will be utilized to create an aesthetically pleasing structure that spans the deep Mud Run Valley located within Hickory Run State Park"

modjeski_replacement
"Nearly 3,500 tons of structural steel were used, with most external components made of uncoated weathering steel. This material blends with the site’s natural color palette and offers a durable, low-maintenance solution. Vierendeel struts between the arches, and the absence of spandrel column bracing creates a more open, graceful appearance, ensuring the bridge harmonizes with its surroundings."

pahistoricpreservation, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
"The bridge consists of a 738-foot [225m], three-span, continuous deck truss, with a single-span I-beam approach at each end. It was one of the tallest bridges on the Pennsylvania Turnpike system, with its road surface approximately 195 feet [59.4m] above Mud Run."
The replacement was supposed to be done by 2025. I'm writing this in Apr 2026 and it is not done.