Waterville Bridge

Information and Findings From Ohio's Historic Bridge Inventory

Setting/Context

The bridge carries a 2 lane road over a stream in a rural setting with scattered 20th century development. The town of Waterville is beyond the west end of the bridge. The prior truss bridge at this location collapsed in 1941 (see photo on old bridge card) [Shown to Right].

Physical Description

The 5-span, 846'-long, rivet-connected Parker thru truss bridge is traditionally composed of built-up chords. Some of the diagonals are rolled sections. There are cantilevered sidewalks. The bridge is supported on the ashlar piers and abutments of the prior bridge at this location. The old substructure was widened with concrete.

Integrity

Deck replacement/repairs, 1988.

Summary of Significance

The 5-span, Parker thru truss bridge was built in 1948 by the state highway department. It is a late example of what was by 1948 a very common bridge type and design. The bridge is traditionally composed and exhibits no innovative or distinctive details. Because it is a common solution to a long-span crossing, neither the bridge nor its contexts are historically or technologically significant. 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