Westview Drive Sidewalk Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey (For Morgan County Bridge #31)

Bridge History and Significance

The Indiana Department of Highways continued to design riveted Warren pony trusses throughout the 1930s for some spans requiring spans of less than 100 feet. The bridge trusses are half-hip, each with six panels and bolted together in three sections. Its diagonals are heavier at the end-posts than towards center span. They are made from two pairs of angles and battens for each outer panel and a single, increasingly lighter pair towards mid-span. The lower-chord members are also varied in size, each being fabricated from a pair of angles and battens in the outermost panel and with two pairs of angles for the inner panels. The verticals consist of two pairs of angles riveted together with several batten plates shared with the external braces. The battens integrate the sway bracing with the verticals. The I floor-beams are bolted to gussets and the verticals above the lower chord and carry a concrete deck with an asphalt roadway. Guardrails of light channels protect the trusses. The design of this structure follows ISHC patterns used in the transition between the mid-1920s and the mid-1930s. Although the deck is not as wide as typical of the 1930s, the method and amount of reinforcing used with some diagonal and lower chord members suggests the early years of the later decade. The combination of bolting and riveting in the superstructure suggests relocation. References Associated Engineering Consultants, Inc., Bridge Inventory Rating and Safety Inspection Report: Morgan County; Bridge Reinspection Study and Report: Morgan County (Nashville, 1974, 1978). Sebree, Craig, & McKneight, Inc., Bridge Reinspection Study and Report: Morgan County (Indianapolis, 1986).

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes