Niles Railroad Bridge

Most Recent Visit: October, 2006

This large bridge is composed of four Baltimore deck truss spans. A large deck plate girder span also crosses Front Street, and provides an approach to the bridge. An additional, smaller plate girder span at each end of the bridge provides further approach to the bridge. The bridge sits on stone abutments that were mostly covered in concrete. It is likely that the piers were originally all stone as well. The bridge is skewed which is visible when looking up at the floor beams. Both Carnegie and Phoenix steel company stampings are present on the bridge. Information painted on the bridge says that repairs were done to this bridge in 1983. At that time, the piers and abutments were likely repaired, and the bridge repainted from black to the current grey. Plaques are missing, apparently stolen after the bridge was repainted, since there is a dark silhouette from where the plaque once was was. The silhouette resembles plaques from the Detroit Bridge and Iron Works Company, which suggests they may have built this bridge. This is a bridge that is worth a visit, to see how impressive it truly is. It is long enough that it is difficult to photograph in its entirety especially in the summer when their are leaves on the trees.