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Key Facts |
| Bridge Name | Facility Carried / Feature Intersected | Location | Structure Type | Construction Date / Builder or Contractor |
| Sponable Bridge
McKeowen Road Bridge |
McKeowen Road (Old Alignment) Over Thornapple River | Rural: Barry County, Michigan | Metal Pinned Pratt Through Truss, Stationary | 1903 By: Massillon Bridge Company of Massillon, Ohio |
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Technical Facts |
| Structure Length | Bridge Width | Truss Height | Main Spans | Approach Spans |
| 119 Feet (36 Meters) | 16.5 Feet (5 Meters) | 13 Feet (0 Meters) | 1 | None |
Barry County bypassed this historic truss bridge with a modern structure and restored the historic bridge, creating an attractive park around it. They also had an official Michigan Historic Site plaque put up. This represents a pleasing solution to maintaining an efficient road system, retaining structures with significant historic value, and also creating a park for residents and visitors to enjoy. With this solution, everyone came out ahead. Barry County sets a good example for future bridge preservation projects elsewhere.
This bridge is a Pratt through truss with pinned connections. The bridge is composed of eight panels. An unusual characteristic of the bridge is that the portal bracing is identical to the sway bracing. The design of the bracing is an a-frame design. V-lacing is present on the bridge under the top chord and end post as well as on the vertical members. The deck is wooden, and while the deck The abutments are stone, and appear to have been patched as part of the restoration.
According to MDOT's description, which was from before the bridge was restored, there are lattice guardrails on the bridge. Those were unfortunately removed when the bridge was rehabilitated. A couple panels of the lattice guardrails were reused as gates for this bridge. On the other hand, the modern railings placed on the bridge are not as detrimental to the historic appearance of the bridge as railings placed on many other restored truss bridges. However, there was no reason to strip the original railings off of the bridge. The Beyer Road Bridge has modern safety railings placed on the bridge, but the lattice railings were also left on behind the new ones.
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About the McKeowen Road Bridge, From Michigan Historic Sites OnlineNarrative Description: The McKeown Bridge, also
called the Sponable Bridge, is located on McKeown Road over the
Thornapple River between Old M-79 and River Road in Hastings Township of
Barry County. A new concrete bridge is to be located across the
Thornapple River one mile directly west of the McKeown Road Bridge.
Construction begins in summer 1997. The land on the both banks west of
the bridges is set aside for a public park. To the east, the land is
privately owned. McKeown Road Bridge is a single span steel Pratt
through truss bridge. The bridge is 119 feet long, 16 feet 6 inches
wide, and approximately 13 feet high from the deck to the underside of
the truss. The bridge's superstructure is an eight panel steel truss
with steel floor beams, stringers and a transverse timber deck. The
abutments which support the bridge on either bank are of fieldstone. The
bridge is painted black to protect the steel. Lattice work highlights
and braces the railings. McKeown Road Bridge was built in 1903 by the
Massillon, Ohio, Iron Company for Hastings Township at an approximate
cost of $2,090. Together with the fieldstone abutments constructed by
the township to support the bridge, the total cost of the project was
$2,865. The McKeown Road Bridge is a
well-preserved example of a Pratt through truss bridge, once a common,
but now rapidly vanishing means of providing transportation over rivers
in the early twentieth century. The bridge is the only steel truss
bridge remaining in Barry County. Despite the area's history as a bridge
site, no bridge was then standing at the time the existing bridge was
proposed in 1902 to 1903. McKeown Road Bridge received its current,
official name during the 1930s when electric companies extended their
services to rural areas and developed a system of naming rural roads to
aid in servicing lines and billing customers. The road and bridge
received their name from C. J. McKeown, a local farmer, who owned the
former Sponable farm on the east side of the road north of the
Thornapple river. McKEOWN ROAD BRIDGE This steel
Pratt through truss bridge was erected for Hastings Township in 1903.
The township contracted with the Massillon Bridge Company of Massillon,
Ohio, for $2,090, to fabricate and erect the steel bridge. In operation
from 1869 to the 1930s, the firm was a leading producer of metal truss
highway bridges throughout the lower Great Lakes region. The McKeown
Road Bridge is the last metal truss highway bridge in Barry County. |
Information and Findings From MDOT