|
|
|
|
|
Key Facts |
Bridge Name |
Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
| Martin Road Bridge | Truss | Martin Road | Shiawassee County, MI | Rural | Shiawassee River |
A June 2005 visit to this bridge revealed that a section of this bridges cobblestone abutments has completely fallen away. Some stones remain below this section and a couple stones remain above this section, creating a small hole-like appearance. This would be fine, except that one corner of the bridge appears to be sitting on one of these rocks above the hole! Perhaps I am overreacting, and it is not bad as it looks. I sure hope the bridge is not in danger. But is it worth taking the chance? I think something should be done immediately to help fix the abutments. The bridge is closed to traffic, but it used by the nearby residents as a pedestrian crossing. Being as this is also one of the more historic bridges in Michigan, I feel something should be done to fix the abutments. I had trouble getting a good photo that really showed how bad this looked, but I did my best. Head over to the photo gallery, or click here for a direct link to the photo. I also included a small photo below the main photo on this page. Look at the grass and weeds growing on the abutment to help get a perspective of where the hole is. Those plants are growing in an area that once had stones. The blackish rock shown at the top is a stone that now appears to be hanging out over where there were once stones. That is the stone the bridge appears to be sitting on. I assume the weight of the bridge holds this stone in place, but if more stone fall out below this stone, I am afraid the entire bridge will collapse.
This is one of the most historically intact bridges I have ever seen in Michigan. Michigan has a bad habit of tearing out original guardrails and paving asphalt over wood decks. That habit has not reached this bridge. This bridge has all the features of a classic Pratt through truss bridge: Cobblestone abutments, original guardrails (thin metal pipe), a wood deck, even builder plaques. This is the only example of a bridge built by Mount Vernon Bridge Company in left in Michigan. This bridge is so complete and special that it should be in a museum.
This bridge is also interesting because I discovered that there are three different widths of vertical members on the bridge. I am sure I have seen other bridges that were like this also and paid no attention, but with this bridge I actually measured them to be sure. The results are in my photo gallery for this bridge, or click here to go right to that section of the gallery.
This is an excerpt from the information found in the Michigan Historic Sites Online:
About the Martin Road Bridge, From Michigan Historic Sites OnlineNarrative Description: Built in 1885, the Martin Road Bridge is a single-span, pin-connected, Pratt through truss structure, displaying nine panels, with dimensions of 119 feet in length and fifteen feet in width between the trusses. The three-by-eight-inch wooden planks forming the deck are supported by six rows of six-inch I-beams and two rows of six-inch channels carried on sixteen-inch built-up metal floor beams. Rubble fieldstone abutments support the bridge. The structure is currently closed to highway traffic.
The Martin Road Bridge is one of
the oldest metal through truss highway bridges in Michigan. The state's
oldest surviving examples date from 1876 and fewer than a dozen such
structures built prior to 1890 remain in the entire state. Built in
1885, the bridge is the only surviving through truss highway bridge in
Michigan known to have been designed and constructed by the Mt. Vernon
Bridge Company of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The bridge is an excellent and
increasingly rare example of late nineteenth-century bridge building.
|
Despite the obvious integrity that this bridge retains, it sits, forgotten and closed to traffic, rusted so far that there is no paint left. However, the rust does not appear to have eaten away at the beams or even the joints very much. Also, the rust appeared to be a bit more orange in color than in other bridges I have seen, which suggests that this bridge could be wrought iron, rather than steel.
I fear greatly for this bridge. Although they are beautiful, the cobblestone abutments that this bridge sits upon could bring about the doom of this bridge. Many of the stones on the abutments are loose and falling out. If nothing is done to this bridge it will end up in the river, just because of bad abutments. That would be a shame.
Obviously, the best-case scenario would be to restore this bridge where it sits and reopen the bridge to traffic, without compromising its historic integrity. The cobblestone abutments could be patched or replaced to keep them in one piece, and the actual bridge could have worn parts replaced, a new deck, and a coat of paint. I suppose that the idea of full restoration in its current location is asking too much. However, there are more reasonable options that I feel should be looked at for this bridge. Certainly the bridge could at least be moved to a park where it could be repainted and repaired to make it a pedestrian bridge for another century. Michigan has one bridge park, Calhoun County Bridge Park. Perhaps they would be interested in a bridge that retains so much historic integrity. Even if none of this was done, at the very lest, the abutments need to have something done to keep them from falling apart, and sending the bridge into the river.
