| Key Facts |
| Bridge Name | Facility Carried / Feature Intersected | Location | Structure Type | Construction Date / Builder or Contractor |
| Gower Road Bridge | Gower Road Over Coldwater River | Rural: Branch County, Michigan | Metal Pinned Pratt Full-Slope Pony Truss, Stationary | ca. 1910 By: Unknown |
| Technical Facts |
| Structure Length | Structure Length | Roadway Width | Main Spans | Approach Spans |
| 81 Feet (24.7 Meters) | 78 Feet (23.8 Meters) | 13.6 Feet (4.1 Meters) | 1 | None |
Among the most significant bridges in Branch County is this impressive pin connected Pratt pony truss. Even more surprising is that it is open to vehicular traffic, something that has become a rarity in Michigan! There is an unusual piece of steel mounted on the north top chord of the bridge. Although not original, it appears that it may have been holding a builder plaque. Perhaps the original mount had broken. Either way, there is no plaque on the bridge today, and so the builder is unknown. Also of interest, although one section of railings are not original, the top set of railings appear to be original. At first glance these original railings appear newer due to the channel-like design to them... but a close look reveals they are all riveted and likely original. The shape of them is similar to what some prototypes of modern Armco Railing might have looked like. There is v-lacing present on the verticals, and the deck of the bridge is wooden. The wooden deck appears to have been redone fairly recently. The bridge is a six panel structure. The bridge is seated on concrete abutments. The abutments have had newer concrete added to parts of them.
The Michigan Historic Bridge Inventory provides the following technical data: Features of the bridge include: upper chord: back-to-back channels with cover plate and battens; lower chord: paired bars; two outer verticals: rod with turnbuckle between paired bars; three middle verticals: back-to-back channels with v-lacing on both sides; two diagonals extending from the center of upper chord to lower chord: square bars with turnbuckles; other diagonals: paired square bars; railings: guardrail sections with large channel sections below them; bottom laterals: crossed rods; floor beams: built-up i-beams consisting of two pairs of back-to-back angles with a cover plate between them, u-bolt bolted to superstructure.
