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Bridge Realignments

Started by Michael, January 18, 2013, 04:41:56 PM

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Michael

Since I strayed off-topic while I was replying to the following quote, I figured I'd create a new topic.  The first two replies are mentioned in the quoted thread as well.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 18, 2013, 09:24:28 AM
on a similar vein, any examples of bridges which are directly in line with a bypass route, while the old alignment goes a bit of a way down the river? I have seen this before, and it wasn't a case of the entire road being shifted, as much as the original route having a C-curve in it, and the bypass being dead straight.  alas, the only example I can think of offhand is one in Argentina, but I know I've seen it in the US as well.

The first one I thought of is I-81 in Syracuse near Carousel...er...Destiny USA.  The ramps on the left side are basically a frontage road for I-81, and according to old topographic maps, that was the original routing of I-81.  According to NYSDOT's bridge data, the bridge on the left was built in 1959 (and rebuilt in 1987 according to Uglybridges.com), so it's probably the original bridge from when I-81 was built.  The current I-81 bridge was built in 1987.

North of Port Byron, there's two bridges that have been realigned.  The first realignment was on NY 38.  The original bridge (I can't find the year it was built, but it's in this 1918 picture) arced to the west from the parking area/boat launch at the bottom (the access road was the original alignment of NY 38).  The arc connected to the eastern tip of Haiti Island at the brown spot visible on the aerial image.  When the current NY 38 bridge was built in 1964 (the page with the 1918 picture lists the wrong year), the northernmost span of the old bridge was kept for access to Haiti Island.  In 1990, the Haiti Island bridge was damaged by a snowplow.  A temporary Bailey bridge was built inside the truss, and in 2007, a portion of the truss collapsed and damaged the Bailey bridge (click here for a picture of the damage).  A new bridge was built in 2010, which is the one visible in the aerial image.

A few miles to the east, the NY 34 bridge north of Weedsport was also realigned.  The road has a slight S-curve just north of the bridge (zoom in to see it better).  The current bridge was built in 1964, but these aerial images from 1938 and 1954 show a truss bridge just west of the current bridge.  Since I can't link to the exact portion of the images I linked to, note that the NY 34 bridge is the one on the left near the bend in the river.  The bridge just to the east is an old railroad bridge that is now gone, but the supports are still standing.

Even further east, NY 31 used to use what's now Woods Road to cross the Seneca River between Baldwinsville and Clay.  There have been three bridges at this location that I'm aware of, and the two most recent ones used the current alignment.  The current bridge was built in 2005 to replace a narrower truss bridge built in 1950.  The new bridge is 2 lanes each way with turn lanes for the intersections at both ends, and the old one was one lane each way without shoulders.  The new bridge was built as part of a project to extend the five lane portion of NY 31 from near the I-481 interchange to the east to NY 631 just outside of Baldwinsville to the west.  Something I thought was cool is that the old bridge was dismantled, refurbished, and moved to Plainville Road west of Baldwinsville to replace a one-lane bridge from 1912.  Even cooler is the fact that the NY 31 bridge fit at the Plainville Road location within inches.  NYSDOT has a presentation about the move on their website.


vdeane

NY 56 recently had a major S curve replaced with a straight through.

When the NY 441 bridge over I-490 was replaced, NYSDOT built the new bridge just north of the old one.  The resulting road looks more natural than the one that existed before.

The O'Rorke Bridge lines up perfectly with the Lake Ontario State Parkway.  With the Stutson St Bridge, traffic had to make a quick jog through two lights via Lake Ave to go "straight".
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Big John

Green Bay, the Main Street (US 141) bridge had a sharp S-curve on the east side approach.  When that bridge failed inspection in 1995, the replacement bridge was built at an angle to the river to keep the west side approach mostly in place but line up with the new east side approach so the S-curve was eliminated.

roadman65

What about the New River Gorge Bridge in WV?  Its old alignment is still there where US 19 zig zagged once before down the sides of the gorge to reach the crossing.  The current crossing is straight as it spans on both sides from the two gorge edges.   The current bridge, saved not only mileage, but time as well.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

NE2

Quote from: roadman65 on January 19, 2013, 01:04:16 AM
What about the New River Gorge Bridge in WV?  Its old alignment is still there where US 19 zig zagged once before down the sides of the gorge to reach the crossing.
False. US 19 crossed at Prince (WV 41) and US 21 at Cotton Hill (WV 16): http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-bluefield-1957.jpg The tiny bridge below the current one was WV 82 (now CR 82).
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

SteveG1988

Great Bay Blvd in NJ has the old alignment still visible.

http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/great_bay/

The bridges were built off the line of the road, for future upgrades as needed.
Roads Clinched

I55,I82,I84(E&W)I88(W),I87(N),I81,I64,I74(W),I72,I57,I24,I65,I59,I12,I71,I77,I76(E&W),I70,I79,I85,I86(W),I27,I16,I97,I96,I43,I41,

roadman65

#6
Quote from: NE2 on January 19, 2013, 03:33:54 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on January 19, 2013, 01:04:16 AM
What about the New River Gorge Bridge in WV?  Its old alignment is still there where US 19 zig zagged once before down the sides of the gorge to reach the crossing.
False. US 19 crossed at Prince (WV 41) and US 21 at Cotton Hill (WV 16): http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-bluefield-1957.jpg The tiny bridge below the current one was WV 82 (now CR 82).
Interesting.  The way they talked about it at the visitors center there, you would think that tiny bridge was indeed US 19.

Actually you pointed out that Wikipedia is wrong.  On the New River Gorge write up, it has a picture of the tiny bridge below it and its caption pointing out its the old US 19.  They were right, about the bridge making a 45 minuet trip from one side to the other is now done in 45 seconds  as correct.  When US 19, did go its old way as shown on the map, it did add extra time on to the journey between rim to rim in those days if you did follow either US 19 or US 21.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

jeffandnicole

Numerous bridges heading from the mainland to the barrier islands in NJ have been built on new alignments.  One good example is Sea Isle Blvd heading into Sea Isle, NJ.  The old alignment went straight onto 44th street; the newer alignment, including bridge, brings it right thru what may have been houses along 41st street at one point.  The route does not curve back into the old alignment once on the island.

http://goo.gl/maps/egtXw

When I-295/US 130 was constructed in NJ between Mileposts 14 & 23 (give or take), every road that would intersect with the new highway had a bridge built to the North or South of the existing road, creating numerous "C" type curves over the highway. In many cases, the interchange ramps were constructed using the old road's alignment.  The result was approximately 12 interchanges built in what was a relatively rural area of I-295, including a stretch of roadway around MP 21-23 where businesses had direct access right onto the highway (think Jersey Freeway), almost all of which had 15 or 20 mph advisory speeds and nothing more than a double yellow line separating the flow of traffic (see http://goo.gl/maps/UPF2y for an example that still exists).

Throughout the years, the direct access was removed.  Interchanges 14 and 17 - 23 have been upgraded, and in many cases the new bridge was built on the original road's alignment, creating a straight road once again.

Interchange 15 was to be given the same treatment, and Interchanges 16A & 16B were to be combined as one interchange.  However, local opposition eventually won over NJDOT, and the plans were dropped.  When Interchange 17 was built, a 1 Mile Ahead BGS was installed on the SB side for "Exit 16".  The exit tab and signage has never been corrected to properly show Exit 16A & 16B.  Likewise, somehow, the Exit tab on the Exit 18, 1/4 Mile ahead BGS still has Exit 18A & 18B, even though those exits were combined into Exit 18 about 20 years ago.

empirestate

Quote from: Michael on January 18, 2013, 04:41:56 PM
A few miles to the east, the NY 34 bridge north of Weedsport was also realigned.  The road has a slight S-curve just north of the bridge (zoom in to see it better).  The current bridge was built in 1964, but these aerial images from 1938 and 1954 show a truss bridge just west of the current bridge.  Since I can't link to the exact portion of the images I linked to, note that the NY 34 bridge is the one on the left near the bend in the river.  The bridge just to the east is an old railroad bridge that is now gone, but the supports are still standing.

What's odd is that from the present-day aerial view, I'd have sworn that the old alignment was east of the current one, not west.

(Could be an interesting side-topic: false evidence of prior alignments.)

Molandfreak

This one was a bugger with a low height limit! It now serves as a pedestrian bridge. Actually, it's a popular fishing spot now! https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=44.487413,-93.128716&spn=0.001083,0.001762&t=h&z=19

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18951122
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 05, 2023, 08:24:57 PM
AASHTO attributes 28.5% of highway inventory shrink to bad road fan social media posts.

roadman65

There is a road near I-4 and US 92 (Eureka Springs Road) that was originally US 92 B before the I-4/US 92/US 301 interchange was reconfigured about 10 years ago.  If you zoom in close enough you will see that bridge over the canal it crosses, is banked for high speed turns.  Originally, as so does its sucessor, US 92 WB  makes a sharp curve after crossing I-4.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Brandon,+FL&hl=en&ll=27.997291,-82.349299&spn=0.004566,0.008122&sll=28.481169,-81.36875&sspn=0.290907,0.519791&oq=bra&t=h&hnear=Brandon,+Hillsborough,+Florida&z=17
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

SteveG1988

The burlington bristol bridge had the approaches re-aligned removing an S curve prior to 1954 when the current toll plaza was opened.

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=6.2970505947953E-06&lat=40.0783759879938&lon=-74.8685052895294&year=1953

Roads Clinched

I55,I82,I84(E&W)I88(W),I87(N),I81,I64,I74(W),I72,I57,I24,I65,I59,I12,I71,I77,I76(E&W),I70,I79,I85,I86(W),I27,I16,I97,I96,I43,I41,

Michael

While browsing Google Maps last week, I came across a bridge realignment on NY 31 west of Montezuma crossing the Seneca River.  The old piers are to the north of the current bridge.  Both piers are visible in Street View.  Click here for the western pier, and here for the eastern pier.

While I was getting Street View links for the Plainville Road bridge below, I stumbled on a what I thought was a possible realignment of River Road north of Jordan.  After looking at this 1938 aerial image, it seems that the original bridge went more east-west than the current one, from the gray area on the west side of the current northern approach (now a boat launch at the end of the old River Road alignment) to the gray area on the east side of the current southern approach.  In the 1938 image, the bridge is to the lower left of center, at the northern end of the white part of the river.

Earlier this summer (last month if I remember correctly), Street View was updated with HD imagery from northern Cayuga County, along with parts of Oswego and northern Onondaga counties.  Almost every road in the area was added, in addition to replacing SD imagery from major roads already captured.  I think they did a pretty good job!  Anyway, the new imagery shows the piers from the NY 34 bridge I mentioned in my original post.  Click here for the southern pier, and here for the northern one.  In all the years I've been going over the current bridge, I never noticed the piers.

In addition to the NY 34 bridge, the old abutments of the NY 38/Haiti Island bridge from my original post are also in HD Street View.  Here's the southern abutment, the Haiti Island abutments, and the northern abutment.  I never noticed the southern abutment before until looking in Street View.

While writing this post, I realized that I never mentioned that the Plainville Road bridge in my original post was realigned.  Here's the eastern and western abutments of the old bridge.



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