Sterling Road Bridge

Visit MDOT's Page For This Historic Bridge

This Bridge Has Been Relocated and Restored!

This bridge is right at the southern Michigan border. The Welcome to Ohio signage can be easily seen from this bridge. Hillsdale County, which is where this bridge came from, apparently did not care that this was their last truss bridge. Now Lenawee County has become one of only a handful of Michigan counties that can claim to have preserved a truss bridge. Hillsdale County on the other hand has entered a larger group of counties that are what I call trussless. The Sterling Road Bridge, now serving sidewalk traffic, now sits next to a 1935 beam bridge on M-156 that has also been renovated.

The Sterling Road Bridge was built in 1897 by the Toledo Bridge Company. MDOT's image shows the bridge with its original plaque mounted on the portal bracing. The current plaque on the bridge is not original. The bridge is a Pratt through truss with pinned connection and five panels. V-lacing is present on the vertical members, and on the sway bracing. The i-beams have an interesting trapezoidal shape to them, that I have seen only only a few other bridges. Eyebars on the bridge are punched. Portal bracing is ornate, with a lattice design coupled with an unusual decorative design in the corners.

One of my points with this website is to critique the way bridges are treated. Overall, this is an excellent situation, since this bridge was saved from being condemned to the dumpster. The railings are not original, but are a million times better than what is usually put on other restored truss bridges. They even have a lattice design to them, suggesting someone who picked those railings out had some respect for the aesthetic qualities of the bridge. The dark green paint on the bridge looks fine on the first restored bridge you see, but I feel that far too often dark colors are selected for truss bridges. I am unsure why small truss bridges that are restored always end up dark green or black, while large landmark bridges like the West End Bridge or the Blue Water Bridge are always painted lighter colors. I think that variety is the spice of life, and truss bridges are all about variety. Why not continue that through a varied selection of paint color? At the very least, pick a lighter color before you pick a darker color. Imagine the blue water bridge painted black! It would look awfully depressing. The lighter colors are more pleasant, and also bring out the structure of the bridge. My photos of this bridge are a good example. Note that paint color and weird weather combined to make getting the structure photographed very difficult, even though this bridge was out in the open. Then note the CR-22 Bridge, buried in the trees, photographed a half hour later. With its silver paint, it shows up much better.