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Key Facts |
Bridge Name | Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
| Rockford Railroad Bridge | Truss | Railroad (Rail-Trail) | Kent County, MI | Rockford | Rogue River |
I hate railings that are not original to a bridge. I hate wooden railings. I also hate cyclone fence railings. What do you suppose is my opinion of the railings on this bridge? In my opinion a key focus with any truss bridge restoration is that everything should try to affect the historical integrity of the bridge in the least possible amount. Granted, railings may need to be added to a bridge. But if they do, they should be visually minimal, meaning that it is easy not to notice them. Metal pole railings do this very well. Also, railings do not need to be as high as on this bridge. They could be a foot shorter and still keep wheelchairs, babies and everything else from falling off the bridge. And lets face it, if somebody want to get over the railings, they are going to get over them regardless of how high they are. I deal with railing issues with highway truss bridge restorations frequently. With railroad bridges on rail-trails the problem is more frequent however. I think one of the issues is that a rail bridge like this might not be seen as historic by people like those involved with the rail-trail. Perhaps that is why the bridge itself was not restored. The bridge sits rusting with no paint on it. Perhaps that is also why no interpretive sign describing the history of the bridge and rail line is present either.
This bridge is surrounded by ugliness. The giant slab bridge disturbs any looking north portal view taken of the bridge. In addition, for whatever reason, someone erected one of those ugly pre-fabbed pedestrian bridges east of this rail bridge. I don't know why two crossings were needed. Both of these ugly structures do have a positive aspect however. Both allow for excellent views of the truss bridge. I was able to get good side angles from the pedestrian bridge. The highway slab was even cooler, because I could get above the bridge and take some unique shots; angles you hardly ever get to see a truss bridge from.
All the ugly stuff around and on this bridge can not hide the shear beauty of the bridge itself! Bridge enthusiasts tend to get excited when a bridge, particularly a truss, is skewed. When a bridge is skewed it has a bizarre and pleasantly unique appearance to it. Such is the case with this bridge, which appears to have a forty-five degree skew to it. The bridge is an eight panel through truss with pinned connections. The bridge sits on stone abutments. Both types of v-lacing are present on this bridge. The vertical members feature the normal v-lacing that is almost always the type seen on highway truss bridges. Under the top chord is the more unusual style usually found on railroad bridges. In this type, each piece of v-lacing has its own two rivets connecting it to the beam, rather than sharing the river with another piece of the v-lacing. Lattice is present on the sway bracing. For a railroad bridge, I would consider the portal bracing ornate. It has cloverleaf type designs on the main part of the bracing, with a cloverleaf and two teardrop shapes on the corners of the bracing. This certainly is an unusual railroad bridge, and it has a lot of beauty as well. It was originally part of the Michigan Northern Railway, which stopped running trains on the line in 1984. Thanks to Les Hale for providing those historical tidbits.
