1891 National Road Bridge

[mobilene]

Cooper Iron Bridge by mobilene, on Flickr

 

This is the 1891 Cooper Iron Bridge, on a narrow gravel road in Putnam County Indiana. It used to stand 2/10 of a mile around the corner on the National Road. It served there for 38 years before the current 1925 open-spandrel concrete arch bridge was built there. That bridge is on one of the bypassed NR alignments in Putnam County.

 

Cooper Iron Bridge by mobilene, on Flickr

 

This bridge has a wooden deck; it looks to be pretty new.

 

Cooper Iron Bridge by mobilene, on Flickr

 

The trusses themselves are a little battered in spots, but I guess it's not so bad considering that the bridge has served for more than a century.

 

Cooper Iron Bridge by mobilene, on Flickr

[Steve_Colby]

Excellent find, Jim.

 

~ Steve

[mobilene]

I wonder if this is the last iron truss NR bridge left.

[Steve_Colby]

Jim,

Here's a few more... Although they may be steel, not iron.

 

This bridge is still in service on the National Road realignment just east of Grantsville, MD. It replaced the famous Casselman River Stone bridge.

 

The Brownsville, PA truss bridge over the Monongahela River.

 

 

The Zane Gray Bridge, Muskingum County, Ohio, is now pedestrian only.

http://bridgehunter.com/oh/muskingum/zane-gray/

 

~ Steve

Edited August 12, 2010 by Steve_Colby

[Dave Reese]

Nice photos guys. Thanks for taking me places that my travels have not.

[mobilene]

I'm pretty sure the Casselman River Bridge is steel. I've driven over that one. I've not driven the one in Brownsville -- I bollixed things up on that leg of the trip and ended up staying on modern US 40. That bridge is from 1906; it could still be from the iron era, I don't know.