1910 Miles Glacier (Million Dollar) Bridge over Copper River near Cordova, AK

(Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; no Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

Construction was 1909-10. [WisconsinHistory]

Many photos of the bridge

HAER AK,20-CORD.V,1--18 (CT)
18. Looking east from Childs Glacier to Miles Glacier - Copper River & Northwestern Railroad, Million Dollar Bridge, Spanning Copper River at Miles Glacier, Cordova, Chugach Census Area, AK
Bridge Now and Then posted.
Alaska's Miles Glacier "Million Dollar" Bridge. Damaged in the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964, these "temporary" repairs lasted 40 years. photo by Jet Lowe, July, 1984. (HAER)

Bridges Now and Then commented on its post
2008, after permanent repairs

HAER AK,20-CORD.V,1--20 (CT)
20. Collapsed span, looking east

HAER AK,20-CORD.V,1--19 (CT)
19. Principal long span, looking east

DangerousRoads
"The bridge is 1,550 feet (470 m) long across the Copper River. This one-lane historic bridge was built in the early 1900s, from 1909-1910, as a one-track railroad bridge for the Copper River and Northwestern Railway to haul copper from the Kennicott copper mines to the port of Cordova....Nicknamed as the Million Dollar Bridge, it was closed in 1938, reopened as a highway bridge, part of the Copper River Highway in 1958 and fourth span collapsed in earthquake on 1964. In 2005, the span was repaired but the road is no longer in use."

 

CopperRiverRailway_history
The Copper River & Northwestern Railway paid $1,424,775 to build this bridge.
"The bridge carries the railroad over the Copper River for its second time after leaving Cordova, crossing from the east bank back to the west bank.  The alignment takes advantage of a narrow channel to allow the railway to avoid two active glaciers – Childs Glacier downstream on the west bank, and Miles Glacier upstream on the east bank."
(The railway was 200 miles long. [AdamsPictureBlog])
The roadbed was converted to a road in 1958 to provide a highway connection to the outside world. When this road is "broken," Cordova can be accessed only by airplanes and ferries.

Jonathan McNeely, Jan 2011

Jonathan McNeely, Jan 2011

 

CopperRiverRailway_photo
"One of the photos I’ve recently acquired is this view of a train approaching the Miles Glacier bridge from the east. It would appear to be a work train that’s returning from carrying ballast, given it consists entirely of the railroad’s Western side-dump gravel cars and a spreader on the back just ahead of the caboose.
"Another thing to note is the trestle wye at the east end of the bridge. Most people don’t realize there was a wye here, completely up on trestlework. I also find it interesting that I can’t see the Miles Glacier station at the west end of the bridge, but it may be just out of the photographer’s field view."

 

AdamsPictureBlog, 1 of several photos in the area
" In this view of the bridge you can see how the section in the foreground (the formerly collapsed section) is more than two feet off of alignment with the rest of the bridge."
The Miles Glacier is the largest icefield on earth outside of Greenland and Antarctica.

 

AMRC-b64-1-135
"View of Copper River and Northwestern Railway bridge construction showing caisson for constructing bridge piers on Copper River at Miles Glacier in the Cordova, Alaska area. From verso: 'Cagsion [sic] for bridge piers.' Postcard."

CityOfCordova

"The 56-mile Copper River Highway begins in Cordova and ends at the Million Dollar Bridge. Locals and tourists alike use the highway to access trails, hunting and fishing opportunities, off-road recreation areas, and the US Forest Service’s popular Childs Glacier campground and recreation site.

From the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities:

"The ADOT&PF has indefinitely closed the Copper River Highway at mile 36 due to safety concerns at Bridge No. 339. The closure will last until the bridge is replaced." 

The Miles Glacier is upstream, and it calves icebergs into the river, so ice breakers were installed in front of the piers to help protect them.

1:13 video @ 1:01

Union Railroad (US Steel) Bridge over Turtle Creek at East Pittsburgh

(Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; Satellite)

Mtnclimberjoe Rail Photography posted

As a snow squall moves through East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Union Railroad Job 95A crew brings scrap loads an slab empties across the Turtle Creek bridge with a trio of MP15's. The crew will proceed north to clear the next switch, then shove their train down the ramp into the US Steel Edgar Thompson Works complex.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnclimberjoe50/53544125608

====Info====

2/17/2024

URR North Bessemer Branch

East Pittsburgh, PA

URR Job 95A (Slab Empties; Irvin Works - Dravosburg, PA to Edgar Thompson Works - East Pittsburgh, PA)

URR 15 MP15DC Blt. 1975

URR 23 MP15DC Blt. 1976

URR 11 MP15DC Blt. 1974

R. B. Rail Photog shared
Dennis DeBruler shared
Dennis DeBruler: Bridge location: 
 https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3917428,-79.8405862,213m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

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

1864 Clifton Suspension Bridge over River Avon at Bristol, UK

(Satellite)

Looking South:

Street View, Oct 2020

Looking North:

Street View, Apr 2017

The bridge spans a gorge that is 700' (213m) and 250' (76m) deep. When conceived, this bridge was the highest and longest suspension bridge in the world. [3:37 video @ 0:25]

The towers rise 86' (26m) above deck level. [BridgesOfDublin]

 

Bridges Now and Then posted
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain passing under Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge on her triumphant return to Bristol in 1970. (Casual UK)

Will Rogers posted

Seen on a local site. Old British rail advertisement for Bristol showing a white funnel

Paddler & a train on the Somerset side of the suspension bridge

 

Clifton Suspension Bridge posted
#OnThisDay [Mar 16] in 1831 Isambard Kingdom Brunel's design for the CSB was formally accepted, beating 12 other proposals submitted in an open competition. Brunel's winning design originally took 2nd place, but he convinced the lead judge, Davies Gilbert, of the merits of his design and he was declared the winner two days later. He assures us in his diary that the conversation he had with Gilbert was "all fair and honest".
Lisa Vincent: Do you know what the original 1st place bridge design was, and by whom?
Bob Bruton: Lisa Vincent it was won by a Mr Hawks but we have no record of the design or what he said when told he would not get the contract.
Bridges Now and Them shared

VisitBristol
"The world famous Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although he never lived to see his creation finished in 1864."

VisitBristol_story
Brunel was only 23 when he won the contract for the bridge in 1831. Work started in 1836, and the two towers were completed by 1843. However, the funds dried up and "in 1853 all the ironwork that had been made for Clifton was sold off and re-used for another of Brunel’s great bridges: the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash in Devon." After Brunel's death in 1859, "the opportunity arose to recycle the chains from Brunel’s Hungerford footbridge in London which was being demolished." Work resumed in 1862 and the bridge opened to the public in 1864. "The majority of the bridge’s wrought ironwork is original and has not been replaced."

 

Highway Engineering Discoveries posted

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Suspension bridge in Bristol, United Kingdom

This bridge has plenty of redundant tie-bars, unlike the Silver Bridge in Ohio that collapsed.

Street View, Oct 2023

Bridges Now and Then posted
Clifton Suspension Bridge construction,1862.
Bridges Now and Then shared
BNaT Classic.

 

Clifton Suspension Bridge posted
Bridges Now and Then shared

Julian Roberts posted five photos with the comment: "Clifton Suspension Bridge."

1

2

3

4

5

2:10 video @ 1:16

1846 Reading-Halls Station Bridge near Pennsdale, PA (oldest active metal truss)

(Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

One of the few bridges in Historic Bridges that have the rating of two 10/10. The oldest bridge in the USA is the 1839 Market Street Bridge. It is an arch bridge so all of its structural members can be made with cast iron. This bridge needs wrought iron for its tension members.

Significance: The Reading-Halls Bridge is almost certainly the oldest all-metal truss bridge in active service in the United States, a lone survivor from the first series of all-metal trusses of any kind designed and constructed in the United States. This Howe pony through-truss bridge followed shortly after the construction in 1845 of the very first all-metal truss bridge, the West Manayunk Bridge, also designed by Osborne and built by the Reading Railroad. [HAER_data]

HAER PA,41-MUNC.V,1--1
1. Credit JTL: West elevation of bridge - Reading-Halls Station Bridge, U.S. Route 220, spanning railroad near Halls Station, Muncy, Lycoming County, PA

I was going to label this a bridgeTrussPin since it is an old bridge. But then I noticed that this bridge uses cast-iron compression members so it uses is an even older connection technology. It essentially uses friction for the joints under compression and nuts-and-bolts for the tension members. I presume the tension members are made from wrought iron.

HAER PA,41-MUNC.V,1--8
8. Credit JTL: Detail view, six panels at south end of eastern truss, from beside bridge

14:42 video @ 1:23 (source)
The history starts here. The bridge is owned by the farmer that owns the land, not the railroad. But the railroad has done most of the maintenance.

1839 Market Street (US-40, National Road) over Dunlaps Creek in Brownsville, PA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; B&T; HAER; Satellite)

US-40 Overview

This was the first cast-iron bridge built in the USA. The engineer choose to use iron because he could not find any stone in the area that was strong enough to build a 100' (30m) arch bridge. [HAER_data]

I learned about this bridge while researching the oldest extant all-metal truss bridge in the USA.

It looks like it is a rather flat arch.

Postcard via BridgeHunter

HAER PA,26-BROVI,2--1
1. GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTH, SHOWING WESTERN HALF OF BRIDGE SPAN - Dunlap's Creek Bridge, Spanning Dunlap's Creek, Brownsville, Fayette County, PA

 

ExplorePaHistory

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 and Ohio posted
Oldest Cast Iron Bridge in U. S., in the Neck of Brownsville, PA • Undated! 

HAER PA,26-BROVI,2--6
6. VIEW LOOKING WEST, SHOWING ABUTMENT AND CAST IRON ARCH SEATS

It has a lattice spandrel. And a much wider deck was added to the bridge in the 1920s.

HAER PA,26-BROVI,2--4
4. DETAIL VIEW, SHOWING CAST IRON ARCH AND STEEL MODIFICATIONS

asce
"The Dunlap's Creek Bridge is the oldest all-metal arch bridge in the United States. It demonstrated the feasibility of using cast iron in bridge construction."

Fayette County Historical Society/Abel Colley Tavern & Museum posted

The first cast iron bridge in the United States was built in Brownsville and is going to get some tender loving care! 

The bridge was designed by Richard Delafield. It was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Construction started in 1836, completed in 1839, along the National Road going over Dunlap’s Creek. 

It will be exciting to see this National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark restored! 

We’ll keep you posted!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AXRsMXf2F/?mibextid=WC7FNe

PennDOT_project
The project to rehabilitate this and the adjacent Brownsville Avenue Bridge is expected to cost $9-10m.

PennDOT_article

Bridges & Tunnels by Sherman Cahal posted
The Dunlap Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, carried the National Road across the narrow section of the city known as The Neck. Completed in 1839 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is recognized as the first cast-iron metal arch bridge in the United States. Altered in 1922, it nevertheless remained one of the most significant engineering survivals on the route. Recent preservation work has sought to restore its historic appearance while stabilizing the structure for the future.
🔗 More photographs and history: https://bridgestunnels.com/location/dunlap-creek-bridge/