Long Judson Road Bridge

Information and Findings From Ohio's Historic Bridge Inventory

Setting/Context

The bridge carries a 2 lane road over a stream in a sparsely developed, rural setting.

Physical Description

The 6-panel, 105'-long, riveted Parker pony truss bridge is supported on concrete abutments. The members are built up. The flooring system was replaced/modified using what appears to be salvaged material in 1987. There are no innovative or distinctive details.

Integrity

The riveted Parker pony truss bridge was designed by R. M. Strohl (plans undated) and fabricated by the Elkhart Bridge & Iron Co. (shop drawings dated 1916).

Summary of Significance

The Parker thru truss bridge was built in 1916 and is a later example of what was by 1916 a very common bridge type and design. The bridge is traditionally composed and exhibits no innovative or distinctive details, other than some detailing at the gusset plates which is equally well represented by longer and/or earlier bridges. It is representative of a bridge type and design as well as methods of fabrication that had been used for span lengths greater than 100' since the last quarter of the 19th century.

Camelback and Parker trusses are members of the Pratt-family of trusses with sloped top chords Technologically, Camelback and Parker trusses differ only in the number of top chord slopes (Camelbacks have exactly five slopes, and Parkers have more than five slopes.) The sloped-chord trusses provide the greatest depth at midspan where it is needed to accommodate the stresses, meaning that less material is needed in their construction as compared to a parallel chord truss of similar span, but fabrication is made more difficult due to the varying lengths of the members. The sloped-chord trusses are often associated with longer spans where the savings in material is great enough to be worth the additional fabrication costs. The practice of sloping the top chords dates to at least the 1840s and appeared early in the development of metal trusses. As with other truss designs, pin connections were used from the 1870s to 1900s, and mostly phased out during the 1910s. Rivet connections were being used by the early 1900s and were prevalent from the 1910s to 1940s. Standardized rivet-connected Camelback and Parker designs were used by many state highway departments, including the Ohio State Highway Department. There are 23 trusses (8 Camelback, 15 Parker) in the Ohio inventory (Phase 1A, 2008).

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: No