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This is one of the smallest, simplest known bridges that David Steinman, one of America's greatest and most famous engineers, was hired to design. Why he took on this project in the midst of the construction of his crowning achievement, the Mackinac Bridge, is unclear unless he needed something simple to take his mind off the Mackinac Bridge, likely a stressful project. It is also unclear why such a famous engineer was sought out to design a simple bridge type that was typically designed in-house by state highway departments, unless the city wanted to spring for the full extras package on this bridge. Indeed, the "Steinman touch" can be seen in the meticulous design of the girders that offer better aesthetics than typical examples of variable depth continuous deck plate girders. From a distance it may look like a typical continuous plate girder. Up close however, an attention to design aesthetics is apparent. Specifically, the curve in the girders is continuously spread throughout the girders: even at the bearings, a curve is present rather than having the girders come to a point, as was more common in this type. The sidewalk cantilevers also have graceful curves, the attention to detail that characterizes the work of a skilled engineer who took pride in every aspect of his design, and who understood that bridge aesthetics should be derived from the functional bridge structure, rather than through ornamental decorations, which today are (sadly) the main form of bridge "aesthetics" and are touted as "context sensitive design" by modern engineers who lack everything that made Steinman one of the last "rock star" bridge engineers whose fame extended beyond those involved in bridge design to the general public.
Today, only one or two bridge engineers are ever mentioned by name or recognized by the general public, since today bridges are engineered by enormous companies who "design" bridges by simply copying and pasting designs of previous bridges they "designed." As an example, in New York the replacement of the Lake Champlain Bridge typifies this trend, although its replacement bridge's engineer was (unusually) mentioned by name in news media, its also worth noting that the approach spans of the modern replacement for the historic Lake Champlain Bridge were essentially the same designs this particular company used in other projects in other projects such as the Inner Belt Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. Both bridges use the same "triangle" steel frame aesthetic for its spans: the Lake Champlain bridge for the spans adjacent to the main span (yet they failed to even replicate this in the remaining approach spans, opting for boring beam spans instead), while in Cleveland, all the spans have these "delta" shapes, clearly the same concept copied and pasted for totally different bridge locations and crossing arrangements. In contrast, no two bridges designed by David Steinman are identical, each one is a unique work of art, specifically designed to blend in and complement the surrounding location. Other engineers before him had this love of beautiful bridge engineering, but none came after him. He and his competitor Othmar Ammann were the last of their kind, as bridge design descended into the world of "slabs of concrete."
HistoricBridges.org has assigned this bridge a high level of significance as it is unique among the known works of Steinman due to its small size, and as such it illustrates the breadth of his work and offers a look into his thinking in bridge aesthetics by showcasing his approach to what would otherwise be a small, mundane crossing of little note. It was completed in the same year that his Mackinac Bridge's tower and anchorage piers were completed.
Compare this bridge to a state designed continuous girder which has girders that are not as smoothly curved.
This bridge is tagged with the following special condition(s): Unorganized Photos
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