New Hope Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey

Bridge History and Significance

See Cooper's October 1993 report for a detailed discussion of the most-likely construction contractor and bridge designer and fabricator. It appears that the bridge was built as part of a road contract and that Caldwell and Drake did the design and fabrication of the New Hope Bridge superstructure. The National Register nomination relied on the Cooper report. Seated upon a concrete pier, abutments and wing-walls, the riveted Pratt 23.5-foot high trusses have intermediate verticals of two pairs of laced angles. The diagonals, counters, outer verticals, and lower-chord members were fabricated from two pairs of angles riveted together with battens. The diagonal sets in the two most central panels are countered. The I floor-beams are riveted to the verticals and lower chord at chord level. The bridge carries a concrete roadway between latticed hub-guards and with 15 feet of vertical clearance. Riveted Pratt through structures are not plentiful in Indiana, although Bartholomew County retains a few. Aside from the placement of the floor-beams, the design of the spans is rather conventional. Rehabilitated in 1999. References AECON, Inc., Bridge Reinspection Study & Report: Bartholomew County (Nashville, 1978, 1981). United Consulting Engineers, Bridge Inventory Report: Bartholomew County (Indianapolis, 2002, 2004). James L. Cooper, "County Commissioners among Engineers and Industrialists: Bartholomew County's Pugh Ford (#73) and New Hope (#133) Bridges" (October 1993). Anthony Schoettle, "The Bridges of Bartholomew County," The Republic, 11 Sept. 1994, B1.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes