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Old vs new bridges

Started by tolbs17, March 16, 2021, 09:56:50 PM

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tolbs17

Quote from: Big John on April 21, 2021, 04:01:32 PM
^^ Looks like a vehicle hit that.  The guardrail is a temporary fix until they replace the railing in that area.
The bridge will probably be replaced totally. It's the original 1950s 60s design.


dlsterner

Quote from: tolbs17 on April 21, 2021, 04:10:32 PM
Quote from: Big John on April 21, 2021, 04:01:32 PM
^^ Looks like a vehicle hit that.  The guardrail is a temporary fix until they replace the railing in that area.
The bridge will probably be replaced totally. It's the original 1950s 60s design.
If the bridge is otherwise sound, I doubt that there will be any hurry to replace the entire bridge when it is easy enough to replace the lost piece of railing.  Or they may even leave the piece if guardrail in there indefinitely.

index

Quote from: Mapmikey on March 19, 2021, 01:00:17 PM

This style was prevalent in the 1950s/early 60s for bridges wider than 2 lanes - https://goo.gl/maps/aDshucV6LDpduxY6A


That ornate style along with a few other similar variants seems to have been the dominant style for a pretty long time in the 20th century for anything that wasn't a truss bridge, from around the 1900s-1950s I've noticed. The US 74/29 bridge over the Catawba River has that style of guardrail, built in 1933, as well as the Bearskin Creek bridge in Monroe on what used to be US 74 before the mid-50s. That one was built in 1922. US 17's Ashley River Bridge in Charleston (1926) also has that design.

My favorite execution of the ornate type guardrails are the ones on the Old Victory Bridge over the Apalachicola River, also built in 1922. The Old Trout River Bridge (1930) in Duval County, FL also has a similar design I like. I think there was another bridge in Jacksonville that had a similar style, and when it was replaced they kept the design in the new construction.
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Counties traveled

tolbs17


Big John

^^ The 2012 shot was built of that era, the 2019 shot shows the new bridge with modern design standards.

tolbs17

Quote from: Big John on April 23, 2021, 09:19:57 PM
^^ The 2012 shot was built of that era, the 2019 shot shows the new bridge with modern design standards.
And it's in an odd area for them to keep the original design I'm sure.

Can they build a new bridge and keep the 1950 and 60s design or not I think?

Big John

Quote from: tolbs17 on May 09, 2021, 12:03:09 AM
Quote from: Big John on April 23, 2021, 09:19:57 PM
^^ The 2012 shot was built of that era, the 2019 shot shows the new bridge with modern design standards.
And it's in an odd area for them to keep the original design I'm sure.

Can they build a new bridge and keep the 1950 and 60s design or not I think?
The decorative railings do not meet modern crash standards.  If an aesthetic look was requested, they could have used a Texas railing:

tolbs17

Quote from: Big John on May 09, 2021, 12:12:43 AM
Quote from: tolbs17 on May 09, 2021, 12:03:09 AM
Quote from: Big John on April 23, 2021, 09:19:57 PM
^^ The 2012 shot was built of that era, the 2019 shot shows the new bridge with modern design standards.
And it's in an odd area for them to keep the original design I'm sure.

Can they build a new bridge and keep the 1950 and 60s design or not I think?
The decorative railings do not meet modern crash standards.  If an aesthetic look was requested, they could have used a Texas railing:

double railings are the normal kind right now.


Rothman

Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

dlsterner


Mapmikey

#61
Quote from: tolbs17 on April 20, 2021, 10:55:38 PM
Oh, what happened here?

Did a car hit that area? Did the bridge collapse by itself?

It needs replacing.

Here's your answer - https://www.lakegastongazette-observer.com/news/article_2b45916c-2af8-11e5-b25a-37bb01c46f50.html

I note the concrete surface in the opposite lane is pretty worn out, too, in the 2016 GMSV

Quoteas well as the Bearskin Creek bridge in Monroe on what used to be US 74 before the mid-50s. That one was built in 1922

That railing was not there in 1922 - was made that way when the bridge was widened in 1939

tolbs17

Quote from: tolbs17 on March 18, 2021, 12:14:39 PM
This my guess for the bridges in North Carolina.

1950s

1960s

1970s steel barriers

1970s brown barriers

1980s (present-day)

1990s steel barriers (1)

1990s steel barriers (2)

1990s normal barriers (the southbound bridge)

2000s

2010s I miss those red things on the bottom. compared to this which doesn't have them.

2010s This one uses the steel barriers. On a freeway. Interesting.


I have to say, I enjoy the ones with the steel barriers more. They look nicer and not so dull looking. But I'm sure it's a little more costly to build though.
The ones that are built right now compared to the ones from the 80s and 2000s, the bridge structures are a little bit taller.

tolbs17

#63
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4262233,-78.0178448,3a,38.4y,254.87h,89.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-5JjsNEd1j5hVJcHsf1exg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

This bottom structure looks different compared to all of the other bridges. Wonder why that is...

Compared to this...

Or even this...

Hell... even this looks cheap and funny looking....

How are the steel and the concrete beams chosen and why?

roadman65

Look under the Garden State Parkway where it's a dual configuration between the Raritan and Asbury Park Toll Plazas. They built the later express lanes with concrete beams as supposed to making it match the original local lanes. Heck on US 9 in Sayreville the Parkway Express lanes have no side piers. The bridges span from top of slant wall to median pier in center of Route 9.  The original Parkway Bridges have a pier on both sides of US 9 and in the median of it.

No aesthetic consideration.  Even the former NJ 138 overpass had two designs instead of making the later bridge look like the older one which was a concrete arch bridge similar to Route 36 over the NB local lanes in Tintin Falls.
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tolbs17


roadman65

The bridge on I-80 in Vallejo, CA is noticeable as the 2003 Westbound span is a cable suspended bridge while the EB bridge built in 1958 is cantilever.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe


tolbs17


Mapmikey

Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 08:16:59 PM
These bridges do not match.

They were built almost 15 years apart...why do they need to match?

Big John

Juxtaposition of a new and old side-by-side bridges.  Photo by John Weeks

tolbs17

Quote from: Mapmikey on July 23, 2021, 11:09:47 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 08:16:59 PM
These bridges do not match.

They were built almost 15 years apart...why do they need to match?
Talking about how the way they were built. They probably didn't even think they were going to extend the highway. The left barrier is taller compared to the right barrier.

Mapmikey

Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 11:29:09 PM
Quote from: Mapmikey on July 23, 2021, 11:09:47 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 08:16:59 PM
These bridges do not match.

They were built almost 15 years apart...why do they need to match?
Talking about how the way they were built. They probably didn't even think they were going to extend the highway. The left barrier is taller compared to the right barrier.

For someone who notices small differences in stuff (which you should come out and say in the initial post instead of us guessing), you miss the bigger pictures.

Yes, it is true the left barrier is taller than the right one.  If you check out older streetviews, you will notice the bridge has been widened and I believe they wanted the left barrier to be the same height as the new bridge's left barrier.  This actually supports your theory that they weren't 100% sure the road would get extended (though they definitely knew they wanted to, as it was signed as Future I-840 by 2002).

A much bigger difference in the two bridges can be seen from a different viewpoint - https://goo.gl/maps/cXaPpRpzSPtRjBbu7


tolbs17

Quote from: Mapmikey on July 24, 2021, 09:12:58 AM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 11:29:09 PM
Quote from: Mapmikey on July 23, 2021, 11:09:47 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 23, 2021, 08:16:59 PM
These bridges do not match.

They were built almost 15 years apart...why do they need to match?
Talking about how the way they were built. They probably didn't even think they were going to extend the highway. The left barrier is taller compared to the right barrier.

For someone who notices small differences in stuff (which you should come out and say in the initial post instead of us guessing), you miss the bigger pictures.

Yes, it is true the left barrier is taller than the right one.  If you check out older streetviews, you will notice the bridge has been widened and I believe they wanted the left barrier to be the same height as the new bridge's left barrier.  This actually supports your theory that they weren't 100% sure the road would get extended (though they definitely knew they wanted to, as it was signed as Future I-840 by 2002).

A much bigger difference in the two bridges can be seen from a different viewpoint - https://goo.gl/maps/cXaPpRpzSPtRjBbu7
I say it should have been built as a T intersection until an extension was put there or just make a wide bridge. Then it would look more handy. But it looks awkward.

kphoger

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