January 23, 2007: Wadhams Road Bridge Doomed
Spring 2007 is the scheduled date for demolition of the Wadhams Road Bridge, one of Michigan's rarest historic bridges that is not even in poor structural condition. This will mark one of the greatest injustices done to historic bridges in the country, and the greatest injustice done since the formation of this website in 2003. Any developments or more specific dates regarding this event will be posted on this website when they become available.
On January 11, 2007, the Port Huron Times Herald, a newspaper that reports for St. Clair County, published a letter to the editor that I submitted regarding the historic Wadhams Road Bridge. It is my hope that this letter helped even a few readers see that this bridge is so much more than a narrow bridge that is scary to cross when their is oncoming traffic. The text of my letter appears below and summarizes the situation.
The St. Clair County Road Commission
is planning to demolish the Wadhams Road Bridge over Pine River this
coming spring because it is a narrow bridge.
This is unfortunate, because although few people seem to realize it, the
bridge actually is a rare, historic bridge. Built in 1927, the bridge is
a unique type of concrete-girder bridge State Highway Department
engineers designed in the 1920s.
So unusual was the design that only Michigan and Ontario built this
specific bridge type. Often called concrete camelback bridges, these
structures feature a graceful arched shape to their girders. The Wadhams
Road Bridge is one of only three multi-span examples remaining in the
state.
The road commission has refused to design a replacement project that
would preserve the old bridge, such as building the new bridge next to
the existing bridge, leaving the old bridge standing as an exhibit.
The demolition of this bridge may allow people to cross the bridge at
faster speeds, but will mark a sad loss of a historic and beautiful
span.
October 2006: Please Save Frith! Bridge Preservation Project Failed - Bridge Now Leaving County For Historic Bridge Park.
I will be updating this news article and the Frith Road Bridge page in the future, but for now I am just posting a quick note to let everyone know that the efforts to keep the Frith Road Bridge in St. Clair County and over the same river have failed, because RESA, the organization that was going to take the bridge claims that no longer have the money to preserve the bridge. I am sorely disappointed in the RESA. They have failed St. Clair County, they have failed the bridge, and they have failed me. Fortunately the good folks at Historic Bridge Park are much more trustworthy, and don't back out of an offer. They will be taking the bridge to Historic Bridge Park. I would rather see Frith Road Bridge stand in the same county where it has an identity of its own, but any restoration anywhere is better than nothing. With the loss of Frith Road Bridge, the thumb of Michigan will now earn the distinction of not having a single through truss, unless you consider Frankenmuth to be in the thumb, which I don't.
Note that I have removed the Frith Road Bridge from its special spot at the bottom of my website's main features list, since active public efforts and events for preserving the bridge are permanently ended. The move to Historic Bridge Park will happen without any need for public involvement, which is fine since it means less work on my end!
October 2006: East Erie Street Bridge in Albion, MI Demolished.
A short news break, but to the point. The East Erie Street Bridge is forever wiped off the face of the earth, and in its place is one of those slabs an abomination of a bridge whose ugly, and perfectly replicated design is spreading across the state of Michigan like an incurable cancer. I am disappointed that Albion did not instead make an effort to preserve this historic bridge for the purposes of improving the appearance of their community.
August 2006: Future Uncertain On A Gorgeous, Rare Ontario Historic Truss Bridge; Preservation Group Formed; Help Needed!
Although I have driven within ten miles of a beautiful truss bridge known as Balls Bridge perhaps a dozen times, I never knew that was driving so near to one of Ontario's most beautiful and significant bridges, located in Huron County. The bridge is a gorgeous two-span pin connected Pratt through truss, and was recently closed to traffic with an uncertain future and no government effort to repair the bridge. A group of concerned citizens has formed a group that is fighting to save the bridge, and they need some help, mainly in the form of a simple letter of support to a number of people in charge. You can learn more about this breathtaking bridge, see some photos, and get some addresses to write letters to at this website: http://www.friendsofballsbridge.com/. Even if you do not live in the area, it is important to express interest in the bridge, because preserving this bridge will make the area be a continued tourist attraction, and will make the area more interesting to people looking to move to the area. As a two-span pin connected structure, this is an extremely significant historic bridge, and a beautiful landmark. Pin connected truss bridges are extremely rare in Ontario, and multi-span examples are rare anywhere. Balls Bridge deserves nothing less than a full restoration! The Friends of Balls Bridge and I would greatly appreciate anyone's effort to support the preservation of this bridge. I hope to visit this bridge in person and get some of my own photos for this website this coming winter around New Years, when I plan to be in the area.
August 2006: Imlay City Digging Its Own Grave By Demolishing Historic Railroad Bridge
I wasted a fair chunk of time and effort traveling to Imlay City, MI in Lapeer County in the hopes of photographing some trains passing over the Imlay City Railroad Overpass. But I often have bad luck with Lapeer County, and for the third time I was too late. Who would have suspected that a sturdy through railroad plate girder would be demolished and replaced with an ugly concrete tunnel? Imlay City claims it wants to improve its town for rail-fans, and demolishing rail bridges isn't a very good way to accomplish that goal. The bridge provided a scenic platform for train engines to be photographed as they passed over. By not doing anything to halt the demolition of this bridge, Imlay City has only helped make the town, which struggles to attract visitors, even less of an attraction. Imlay City had once said they wanted to try to attract rail-fans to their town. The demolition of the bridge made the rail-trail that the bridge passed over much more boring, and also less of an attraction to the rail-fans they wanted to attract. Talk about digging your own grave! Now all there is to look at on this section of trail is the back end of a Vlasic Pickle Factory, whose only amusement is the strong dill and vinegar smell it emits. Charming. Finally, the demolition of the bridge represents a loss of an important historic artifact. With an intact plaque, the bridge was a rare documented example of a Detroit Bridge and Iron Works bridge. The structure was built in 1901 and was 105 years old when demolished.
July 2006: Northern Ontario's Old Goulais Bay Road Bridge in Danger!
I visited the Sault Ste Marie area in May of 2006, and among the bridges I discovered and photographed was the Old Goulais Bay Road Bridge, an impressive two-span Bailey truss bridge. It is about as old as a Bailey Bridge can be, with steel members showing 1944 on them. The bridge may even be World War II surplus.
Scott Steves of www.OntHighways.com emailed me and informed me that the Old Goulais Bay Road Bridge bridge has been closed to all traffic not all that long after I visited it, due to a serious structural problem.
Scott reports that "Sometime between May and July the southern side of the central pier of the bridge has begun to sink and the bridge now has an impressive lateral lean to it. The bridge is now closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and I am sure the MTO (who owns Old Goulais Bay Road as an unposted highway) is now slowly formulating a replacement strategy."
Visiting this bridge in May when I did apparently was a rare stoke of luck for me since, it appears I may have made a Sault Ste. Marie trip just in time to see this bridge before barriers were placed in front of it, or worse, the bridge is demolished. I had no idea that the pier was about to fail when I was at this bridge, but I reviewed my photos, and I now notice some things that may have been the beginning of the problem. A look at my zoomed portal view of the bridge shows that the south side trusses are lower in the middle, while the north side at the center, the trusses are higher. In addition, if you follow the lines in the concrete of the piers, they do not parallel the river, and instead are angled downward to the south. Either way, I think that MTO should instead look at lifting the Bailey Bridge off of the pier, replacing the pier, restoring the trusses, and then placing the trusses back on the new pier. Bailey Bridges were designed to be moved, so it should be a relatively easy job to lift the bridge off of the river. As an old 1944 structure, and as a two-span structure, this is a historically significant bridge.
July 2006: Chicago's North Avenue Bridge Doomed
I had though that Chicago recognized the importance of having a city filled with movable truss bridges of all kinds. They however are going to demolish the North Avenue Bridge over North Branch Chicago River this September! In its place, they are all exited because they are building a suspension bridge that they say looks like the Golden Gate Bridge. However, the drawing of the bridge they are building looks nothing like the Golden Gate Bridge I am aware of in San Francisco. Last time I checked, the Golden Gate Bridge had no cable-stays as part of its design! Never mind the fact that you could probably string about 50 of this little bridge they are building in Chicago along the real Golden Gate Bridge. The way the engineers talk about how this new bridge, in their minds, looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, it is like they are jealous of San Francisco. Chicago should not be jealous. They should instead seek to continue to maintain the movable bridges in the city, which define Chicago's historic identity just like San Francisco's bridge. With North Avenue, which I understand is a rather busy road and probably needs more lanes of traffic than the current truss bridge provides, I would rather see a simple beam bridge erected next to the bascule bridge forming a one-way couplet. The North Avenue Bridge is among the oldest bascule bridges in Chicago, and is similar to the oldest, which is Cortland Street Bridge. It should have instead been preserved.
Some news articles on this bridge replacement: Sun Times, Epoch Times.
I am annoyed that I was not aware of the planned replacement of this bridge until after my Chicago trip, so I didn't end up visiting this bridge. If I had been aware of this, I would have prioritized North Avenue on my trip, and even left the older Cortland Street Bridge, which is actually being repainted and restored right now, for another trip. I am attempting to organize an emergency trip to Chicago this August to document the bridge, and while there, continue my Chicago bridges documentation project in general.
June 2006: Wadhams Bridge Doomed
I may not be an engineer, but when I photographed the Wadhams Bridge's superstructure I found it hard to believe it was not on a replacement list nor was it posted for a weight limit. It turns out my feelings were correct, since now the bridge does have a weight limit. The county as a result plans to replace the bridge, unsurprisingly. However this is a large bridge, and funding will not become available until 2009.
Get the latest information on website updates as well as news regarding bridges on this website. Contact me here, if you have questions, comments, information, or bug reports.
May 2006: Remembering William "Tiny" Zehnder
The Beyer Road Bridge and Dehmel Road Bridge are two historic metal truss bridges restored in and near Frankenmuth mainly through the efforts of William "Tiny" Zehnder Jr., who was also credited with turning Frankenmuth into the unique German-themed town that it is today, and one of Michigan's top tourist destinations. Mr. Zehnder also had a love for historic bridges, and his efforts also turned the Frankenmuth area into one of the most successful historic bridge stories in Michigan as well. Mr. Zehnder passed away recently, on May 23, 2006, indeed not all that long after the two bridges were finally erected. His death is a sad event for the historic bridge community, but these beautiful restored bridges stand as monuments to his efforts as much as they are monuments to the companies that originally built them a century ago. On that note, I hope that these bridges continue to be maintained and can remain a part of the Frankenmuth community.
April 2006: St. Clair County Crushing Its History
Apparently not wanting to be left out of the demolition club, St. Clair County is in the process of demolishing two bridges, including the historic Capac Road Bridge. While the historic bridge still stood as of May 2nd, the other bridge the county is replacing had already been demolished. When this other bridge is complete, the historic bridge will be a goner. This inexcusable act of barbarism against the history of St. Clair County is only further demonstration of how inadequate and ridiculous the funding for bridges in Michigan is. Unless people speak out to lawmakers against this sort of waste of taxpayer money these atrocities against the citizens of this country will continue unchecked. I have already revised the bridge's page to a demolished bridge page, as I may be too busy this summer to actually pinpoint the actual day that the bridge is torn down.
April 2006: Saginaw County's Atrocity
The importance of preserving Michigan's curved chord through girder bridges can not be understated. The April 21, 2006 demolition of the beautiful Portsmouth Road Bridge, further reduces the meager 50-or-less bridges of this type that were standing way back in 1995 when the historic bridges inventory was made. As a 70 foot span, this bridge was among the even more significant larger bridges that feature the pierced openings.
