More Bridges .............
disclaimer* - Unlike the last time I went looking at bridges, no Kawasaki saddlebags were injured in the making of this post.
The weather today was pretty nice. low 50's and partly cloudy. I figured it was a good day to head out and track down some more bridges for you all.
This is the Scipio Bridge, spanning Bear Creek. Or "Crick", in the local vernacular. No dates or info anywhere. It's in pretty good shape and looks to have been rehabbed at least once in the past.
This one is used everyday on a smaller country road and I know for sure it will hold more than the 5 ton rating. A tractor pulling 2 large grain wagons full of corn went through while I was there. I gotta believe that was over the limit.
From Scipio I headed out on the county roads to This Beauty here. This is the Westport Bridge. spanning Millstone Creek.
This bridge is also in use everyday and was rehabbed in 2004.
Here's a shot of the info plaque. Note the name of the Builder. A.M. Kennedy and Sons. 1880. They built a lot of bridges in this area. Also note the name on the engineering firm during the rehab. Beam, Longest and Neff. LLC. They must be the hot shit in Covered Bridge rehabbing, as I've seen their name on several others too. It seems proper that a firm with the words "Beam and Longest" in the name, should be associated with rebuilding old wood bridges.
From Westport, it was on to Versailles and the Busching Bridge. Another that is in daily use. This is a big bridge. 170 foot span and 13 foot 6 inches clearance height at the opening. Another recent rehab in 2005. Note the overhang at the entrance. Not the norm. I don't know if that was just something the builder did, or if there was a specific function. I don't know shit about Covered Bridges, so feel free to pipe up if you have any knowledge about these things. This is a new interest area for me.
Yep, same engineers. Note that this is a "Single span Howe Truss". Very similar to the Scipio bridge above. The westport Bridge and the Guilford Bridge, are both "Single span Burr Arch". I'm going to make another post on this and include the last stop of the day, The Guilford Bridge and include some comparison pictures of the different construction types mentioned.
