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Key Facts |
Bridge Name | Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
| Gearhart Road Bridge | Truss | Gearhart Road (Old Alignment) | Shelby County, OH | Sidney | Great Miami River |
It is hard not to notice the Big Four Bridge while you are at this bridge. Together with the Big Four Bridge, you can get awesome photos that show both the delicate truss bridge with the massive arch bridge in the background. A very nice contrast between beautiful historic bridges of totally different types.
The Gearhart Road Bridge is an abandoned structure, a modern ugly slab structure having been built a bit south of the bridge. This bridge does not appear to be at risk of demolition at this time, but it is not being maintained, and is in need of a restoration, perhaps for pedestrian traffic.
The bridge is an unusual one. I believe it was once a three span through truss structure. Today, only the two westernmost spans are pin connected Pratt through truss spans. The eastern end is a newer warren pony truss bridge with riveted connections, that has the appearance of an approach span, due to its pony design. However, I think the pony truss span is as long as the through spans. It is a pony because as steel advanced, a pony truss could do the job where a through span was once needed. It gets real weird when you look at the plaque on this pony truss approach span. It indicates that the span was built in 1964 by the Champion Bridge Company. This is obviously a late date for a truss bridge construction, but truss bridges were occassionally built in later times like the 1960s. The Champion Bridge Company was indeed one company that fabricated truss bridges in the middle 20th century. However, I have some other truss bridges built during this time by the company, ranging from 1955 to as late as ironically 1964, all in Preble County, Ohio. The 1964 example bridge, on Wesler Road in Preble County showcases all the Preble County Champion Bridge Company bridges well. Check it out here. As you can see, this approach span o Gearhart Road looks nothing like the Wesler Road Bridge, nor any of the Preble County bridges built by the company. In addition, for a 1964 bridge, the Gearhart Road pony span features extensive v-lacing and lightweight lattice railings. It does not look like a 1964 bridge to me. If it had no plaque, I would have said a 1920-1940 range, and tend more toward the 1920 end of that range. I am thinking that the Champion Bridge Company somehow acquired the pony span from some other location, and they fixed it up, and perhaps marketed it as a bargain bridge. The bridge would have worked perfectly at Gearhart Road, since there was no need for a super-strong brand new bridge that was going to serve a bridge that was an old pin connected through truss on the other end. The 1964 plaque date apparently references when the span was placed here at Gearhart Road. Bear in mind that this is all speculation on my part, but it was the best explanation I could come up with.
The two through truss spans make up the majority of the bridge. Oddly, they lack original railings unlike the added pony truss span, and instead have modern Armco railings on them. They feature v-lacing on the vertical members and sway bracing. The portal bracing is an a-frame design. The entire bridge sits on concrete abutments and piers. The deck of the pony span is concrete with an asphalt wearing surface. The through spans have a wooden deck, again with an asphalt wearing surface.
