Stoughton Road Bridge

Most Recent Visit To Bridge: July 3, 2006

From my observations, the historic bridge inventory made a horrible mistake in suggesting that the Pittsburgh Bridge Company built this bridge, and as such perhaps if they arrived at the fabricator that I do, then the bridge would have been listed historic. I immediately recognized this bridge as having the details of a Morse Bridge Company bridge. I provide backing for my theory below.

Consider the Six Mile Creek Road Bridge of Michigan and, the Johnson Slagle Road Bridge of Ohio. Looking at the overall appearance of the two bridges, the Johnson Slagle Road Bridge is more like the Stoughton Road Bridge, but both examples display some unifying details. For one, the portal knee bracing on these bridges are all identical. This portal's knee bracing design is not common though, and I have not found it on other bridges. Another thing that these bridges all have uncommon is one very strange characteristic, which is a lack of sway bracing, and heavier-than-usual lateral bracing to make up for it. Note that Stoughton Road today does have sway bracing, but it is actually pipe that has been added at some point. It originally does not appear to have had any sway bracing, which is why it was added at some point. The lack of sway bracing probably had some county or PennDOT engineer on edge, which is why it was added. Finally, a very unique feature of these three bridges are the caps/nuts used to fasten the pin connections on the bridge. While hard to describe, a look at my photos of the connections of each will reveal the unique circular-shaped nuts on the pin connections. Finally, as one more example, their is an additional Pennsylvania bridge built by the Morse Bridge Company, the Eagle Rock Bridge in Venango County. This example has sway bracing bracing for whatever reason, and also the knee bracing is fancier. But it still has those unusual bolts. Note with the however that both the lateral and portal bracing on this bridge is the same heavier style seen on the other More Bridge Company bridges.

While the floor beam connections may have been done like the Pittsburgh Bridge Company, there are too many other things that are attributable to Morse Bridge Company products that I have to disagree. The Pittsburgh Bridge Company, and its closely integrated agents, Nelson and Buchanan, never used those unusual bolts to my knowledge, and their portal bracing is a lattice design as seen on Shanley Road Bridge, and even on smaller bridges such as Jantz Road and Witherspoon Road. Also not that with these bridges, the sway bracing is always traditional, although they connect the overhead lateral bracing using a method seen usually with lateral bracing only under the deck. The Stoughton Road Bridge does not have that type of sway bracing, further discrediting their theory.