Woodland Road Bridge

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Bridge Documented: June 25, 2011

Primary Photographer(s): Randy Mulder

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Key Facts

	Bridge Name	Facility Carried / Feature Intersected	Location	Structure Type	Construction Date and Builder/Engineer
	Woodland Road Bridge	Woodland Road Over Au Train River	Rural: Alger County, Michigan	Metal Through Girder, Fixed and Approach Spans: Metal Stringer (Multi-Beam), Fixed	1914 By Builder/Contractor: Worden-Allen Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Engineer/Design: Michigan State Highway Department

Technical Facts

Main Span Length	Structure Length	Roadway Width	Main Spans	Approach Spans	NBI Number
61 Feet (18.6 Meters)	90 Feet (27.4 Meters)	16 Feet (4.9 Meters)	1	2	02301E00010B010

Historic Significance Rating (HSR)

View Archived National Bridge Inventory Report - Has Additional Details and Evaluation

This bridge is an extremely rare surviving example of a state standard highway plate girder bridge in Michigan. While some states like Pennsylvania built enormous quantities of highway plate girders, Michigan built very few. Nearly all examples in Michigan have been destroyed. This bridge has been abandoned and closed to all traffic, after serving pedestrian and snowmobile traffic for a number of years. Given the rarity of this bridge type in Michigan, a high level of priority should be given to the restoration of this historic bridge.

Information and Findings From Michigan Historic Bridge Inventory

This medium-scale steel bridge carries Wolkoff Road over the Au Train River about a half-mile east of the town of Au Train. The structure is comprised of a single plate girder span, flanked on each end by a steel stringer approach span. These are supported by concrete full-height abutments and concrete-filled steel cylinder piers. The main span features two 60-foot through girders, joined by four underslung I-beam stringers. A builder's plate on the girder identifies its fabricator: the Worden-Allen Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Au Train River Bridge is currently limited to pedestrian and snowmobile traffic, with the roadway partially blocked by 55-gallon drums and Armco railing. Its alterations are relatively minor: the approach span gaurdrails and perhaps the spans themselves have been replaced.

The Michigan State Highway Department delineated plans for steel plate through girders bridge among its first standard designs in 1907-1908. Intended for spans between 30 and 60 feet, these girders were used with moderate frequency in the state between 1908 and 1915. The Au Train River Bridge in Alger County uses a 60-foot-span MSHD standard girder. The structure was built in 1914 by Alger County or Au Train Township as part of work on the secondary road that skirted the Lake Superior shore between Munising and Au Train. "The steel bridge, about one and one-half miles from the village of Au Train, spanning the Au Train river, has gone into commission," Michigan Contractor and Builder reported in October 1914.

The contractors combined a 19th century-type substructure with the newly designed girder superstructure, which had been fabricated in Milwaukee by the Worden-Allen Company. Reportedly costing $35000, the structure was "one of the best of its kind in this part of Cloverland," stated Michigan Contractor and Builder. The road and bridge were later incorporated into M-94, which itself became M-28 in the 1930s. Since its completion, the Au Train River Bridge has carried vehicular traffic until its more recent closure. The bridge is historically significant as one of only two remaining examples of this imprtant early MSHD design standard.

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Photos and Videos: Woodland Road Bridge

Available Photo Galleries and Videos

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	Bridge Photo-Documentation Original / Full Size Photos	A collection of overview and detail photos. For the best visual immersion and full detail, or for use as a desktop background, this gallery presents the photos for this bridge in the original digital camera resolution.
	Bridge Photo-Documentation Mobile Optimized Gallery	A collection of overview and detail photos. View the photos for this bridge in a reduced size which is useful for mobile/smartphone users, modem (dial-up) users, or those who do not wish to wait for the longer download times of the full-size photos. Alternatively, view this photo gallery using a popup slideshow viewer (great for mobile users) by clicking the link below. Browse Gallery With Popup Viewer

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