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Key Facts |
Bridge Name | Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
Corunna Bridge |
Truss |
IN-327 (Bridge Street) |
De Kalb County, IN |
Corunna |
Railroad (Norfolk Southern) |
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Technical Facts |
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Construction Date |
Rehabilitation Date | Structure Length | Main Span Length | Roadway Width |
| 1918 | 1978 | 113.816 Feet | 56.744 Feet | 25.912 Feet |
This bridge gets the unofficial "Most Unique Paint Job" reward. It is the All-American paint job! The top of the top chord has red and white stripes, and the rest of the bridge is blue, with white stars all over. Actually the paint job, is a source of curiosity of me. This bridge photo on INDOT's bridge marketing website shows a plain white coat of paint, so I know the USA paint job is a more recent painting. Bridge marketing is a way that DOTs take a publicly owned historic structure, that deserves to be preserved for all to enjoy using government funds, and is instead considered sentenced to demolition unless some private, third party with lots of money steps forward to move and preserve the bridge. With this fate of the bridge laid out, I would not have expected a fresh coat of paint on a bridge. Why paint a bridge that is about to be torn down? I did note that the underside of the bridge was not repainted and was still plain white. Perhaps this was just some fun thing that Corunna rather than INDOT did to spruce the bridge up for fun. I don't know for sure. Regardless, I hope the future of this bridge will improve, and instead the bridge will be restored to continue to carry vehicular traffic in its current location. The INDOT bridge marketing website said the bridge is currently capable of handling 18 tons. A restoration would likely bring that up to something that is more than enough for this road.
This bridge is very unlike the railroad overpasses in nearby Noble County. The Corunna Bridge is a very unusual structure. In fact, as you approach the bridge it almost appears like the bridge's trusses are just sitting on the road for decoration. The reason this bridge has this appearance, is because the bottom chord is actually above the deck of the bridge! Usually bottom chords run at the same level or slightly below the deck. An inspection of the truss showed that the truss is indeed functional, however some rods appear to have been added to the bottom of the vertical members to strengthen them. The cantilevered sidewalks that are on the bridge make it look like this tiny truss bridge is supporting too large of a deck. The fact is however, the cantilevered sidewalks would add little load to the bridge.
This bridge was built in 1918. INDOT listed this bridge as a warren truss bridge, but this bridge is so short and only contains four panels, that in my opinion it could be called a Pratt truss also. The structure has riveted connections. V-lacing is present on the underside of the top chord, and also on diagonals and verticals. The supports for the main span are trussed, and also feature v-lacing. The bridge features steel stringer approaches at each end which are approximately 30 feet each, and the main span is approximately 57 feet. The abutments are concrete. The deck is concrete on top of a corrugated steel base.
