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Key Facts |
Bridge Name |
Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
| Oakwood Ave Bridge | Truss | Oakwood Ave | Shiawassee County, MI | Owosso | Shiawassee River |
This is a rare Whipple truss bridge, built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company. Wrought Iron Bridge company built a ton of bridges in Michigan, but not many Whipple Truss bridges. In fact there are only three Whipple truss bridges in Michigan. This is the oldest of that trio. There is only V-lacing present on the sway bracing. Wrought Iron Bridge Co bridges often tend to lack v-lacing. A builder plaque is mounted on on end, on the portal bracing. The plaque, like many of Wrought Iron Bridge built bridges, only gives a patent date, no construction date. The portal bracing is latticed. The guardrails are unusual, but I do not think they are original. They actually look like early modern Armco guardrails. There is some large panels of lattice guardrails on one of the concrete abutments for this bridge. These may be what is left of the original guardrails.
I was pleased with the condition of this bridge when I visited it. Rather than being torn down, the bridge has been maintained as a pedestrian bridge. A fairly recent coat of paint was on the bridge, that I hope will be kept up. The wood deck was solid. This is what I wish would be done to historic bridges when they can no longer support cars, and no one wants to spend the money on a full restoration. I bet the bridge will be good enough to stay around for a long time as a pedestrian bridge, if it is maintained in its current condition. In its condition, the bridge is an accessible, beautiful historic landmark for Owosso.
Note the angled bars that connect the portal bracing to the lower part of the end post. Those appear to have been replaced at some time. They look really plain, and I would have expected lattice to fill in the hole that they create between end post and portal bracing. See Morseville Bridge for what I mean. Its bracing is not the same, but you can see how the lattice extends down to meet the extra angled piece of steel. There are little holes that can be seen in the portal bracing and end posts of the Oakwood Avenue Bridge where the original piece of the bracing may have been connected. I am unsure why the bracing was replaced.
