Abandoned bridge finds

[Richard3]

Since so much time I travel the ON-401, I saw that bridge for the first time when I came from North Carolina last Saturday.  Didn't have time to take pictures, so I'll have to rely on Google Maps to let you see. It's over the Hoople Creek, just after exit 770 EB on ON-401, close to Ingleside, Ontario, Canada.

https://goo.gl/maps/RKPnXiyC5hE2

With Google Street View, this time.  Hard to see, with the sun's reflect.

https://goo.gl/maps/bbzAT2wHATA2

Same point of view, but zoomed in.  The bridge is right in the center of the picture.

https://goo.gl/maps/Z5gqjQgVg172

[jmd41280]

This is the abandoned Bellaire Toll Bridge that spans the Ohio River between Bellaire, OH and Benwood, WV.  This bridge has been abandoned since 1991 but has not yet been demolished.


Abandoned Bellaire Bridge (1926) by Jon Dawson, on Flickr

[US71]

More of a concrete culvert than a bridge, along the old Jefferson Highway north of Pattonsburg, MO

[crispy93]

Here's an abandoned bridge in Beacon, NY from the 1870s, when the city was the Village of Matteawan:

And here's one in Somers, built in 1904, not far from I-684:

There's also a couple of abandoned bridges along the Beacon rail line in Dutchess County, NY, including one over the Metro-North.

[Rothman]

I believe the old bridge that connected West Prestonsburg, KY to Prestonsburg, KY is still there (Bridge Street).  My aunt and uncle used to live right near the west end of it.  Always wondered how it fell out of use, even with the newer bridge connecting to now KY-114 (Old US 23/460).

Don't know when I will be back down there to take a picture.

[Max Rockatansky]

Went to see the 1916 Elkhorn Avenue Bridge today on Fresno Slough:

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[US71]

Old US 66
Groom, TX

[ilpt4u]

The old Mill Street Bridge in Danville, IL has yet to be mentioned here

https://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh43966/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7DAZptPjNg

It is kinda neat, checking it out from the ground in the park below it

Further South...

The New Harmony, IN bridge to IL across the Wabash has not been mentioned, either. I believe it used to carry US 460, before being Decommissioned in IL and IN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Harmony_Toll_Bridge

And parallel and to the North of I-64, crossing the Wabash between IL and IN, is an abandoned rail bridge
https://goo.gl/maps/TkAxtPi1xoN2

[Tom958]

US 129 is being widened between Talmo and Gainesville, GA, and I stopped to get some photos of the existing 1940 bridge over Allen Creek, which clearly won't survive the widening. To my delighted surprise, I found the 1940 bridge's precursor hiding in the brush less than 300 feet away. I'm too lazy to post photos unless someone asks real nice, but here it is, barely visible on Streetview. The weird thing about it was that it was very similar in design to the 1940 bridge, as though it had been constructed less than twenty years earlier. Apparently the state's idea of how important that highway was changed decisively sometime in the '30's.

[bugo]

Here's a tiny bridge in Polk County, Arkansas that once carried US 270 over a tributary of the Ouachita River. It was hard to get a good picture of the entire structure because of brush.




Here's a bench mark that is embedded in the bridge, if you're into that kind of thing.

[bugo]

This is what I like about the United States. You wouldn't find much abandoned stuff in Europe, especially not the Netherlands which tend to be compulsively neat to perfect everything.

You'd love Oklahoma. The state is full of truss bridges, even on major state highways. Often, they will abandon an old bridge in place instead of removing it. So there are dozens of trusses in Oklahoma that are just sitting there. There are also quite a few abandoned highways. I doubt the Dutch would have much patience for such things.

[bugo]

This is another abandoned bridge next US 270, along its concurrency with US 71 just east of Acorn, Arkansas. It was on a former alignment of US 71-270.

[edwaleni]

US50, then IL-250 for a little while.  Over Big Muddy and Little Muddy Creek near Clay City, IL.

[Max Rockatansky]

Stumbled upon the ruins of the 1885 Firebaugh Drawbridge today which used to be on 12th Street and replaced the 1854 Firebaugh's Ferry:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmorP1sL

Bridgehunter has the specs on the 1885 Firebaugh Drawbridge:

https://bridgehunter.com/ca/fresno/bh64021/

[US71]

This is another abandoned bridge next US 270, along its concurrency with US 71 just east of Acorn, Arkansas. It was on a former alignment of US 71-270.

Is this on the abandoned part east of 71?

[bugo]

Is this on the abandoned part east of 71?

It is just east of Acorn, south of the modern highway.

[Richard3]

Here's a view of a not-really-abandoned bridge, in Chateauguay, QC, along the chemin St-Bernard (St. Bernard road). Images are from Google Earth.

In the 1970's, plenty of highway projects were flourishing in province of Quebec.  Among them, there was A-30 extension from south shore of Montreal to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, then to the US border close to NY-30 at Trout River. The original ROW was along the QC-132, from the A-15, across Candiac, Ste-Catherine and St-Constant, then in Kahnawake First Nation, still along the 132 to Mercier Bridge approaches, then along the 138 to the Blind Lady's Hll Road, connecting to Old Chateauguay Road, then chemin St-Bernard, in Chateauguay, and becoming boulevard de Léry afterwards, (the actual QC-132 in Léry).  Some investments were already done when the project was definitely killed, like a double bridge along Chemin St-Bernard, built for the two carriageways of the future A-30. Registered as P-01720, the northwest bridge actually holds a bike path while chemin St-Bernard still use the southeast bridge.


...both bridges from bird's eye view


...the "bike path" bridge, from chemin St-Bernard's one.

[rte66man]

In Oklahoma, US266 east of Dewar.

IM000096

In Tennessee, old US51 north of Trimble approaching the Obion River.  The bridge is inaccessible except with a 4 wheel drive.

IM000162

[danthecatrafficlightfan]

found an abandoned bridge in fresno ca

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8334719,-119.9654606,145m/data=!3m1!1e3

found it via bridge hunter.com

so i also found this because of that site

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9029729,-93.3103865,328m/data=!3m1!1e3

[danthecatrafficlightfan]

found an abandoned bridge in fresno ca

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8334719,-119.9654606,145m/data=!3m1!1e3

found it via bridge hunter.com

so i also found this because of that site

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9029729,-93.3103865,328m/data=!3m1!1e3

remember about this abandoned railroad bridge in carlotta , ca i came across

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5374954,-124.0620703,3a,49y,241.14h,83.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIxQQP9cH-_FSST19gDG_eg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[bugo]

You don't "find" bridges on Bridgehunter. I love Bridgehunter, but it is sort of like cheating. The bridges I posted above were not on Bridgehunter until I discovered them via satellite photography and I visited the bridge sites and took pictures of the structures. Before Bridgehunter and satellite photography, finding bridges was an adventure. I used county maps and looked for possible truss bridges and drove to the sites. There was no way to verify if the bridge was still there or if there ever was an interesting bridge there until you visit the site in the field. Another tactic that occasionally paid off was stopping at a local gas station and asking the clerk if they knew of any old bridges in the area. There was a lot of letdown and heartbreak but when I did discover a bridge, it was a rush like no other. Visiting the two bridges I posted above was the closest thing to that feeling that I've had since Bridgehunter and Google Maps and its contemporaries. It was an amazing feeling when you were on a road you had never been on and you round a curve and a truss that you didn't know was there appears out of nowhere or you visited a site in the field and found a truss. I drove many miles and down many county roads and state highways looking for bridges. I came home empty handed many times and I visited many potential sites just to be let down by an ugly modern bridge. It was trial and error.

On the other hand, I lived in a metropolitan area in 2001 and 2002. When Bridgehunter came online, I saw pictures of many bridges in the metro that I had no idea were there. If Bridgehunter had existed in its current form then, I would have visited and photographed dozens of bridges, many which have been torn down since I moved away. The modern internet has been a double edged sword and whether the hobby is better now or then is all opinion. I think it has been both good and bad. Since I am older and don't have as much time to visit possible bridge sites, having the resources has been invaluable. I'm glad Bridgehunter and satellite photography are there today but I'm also glad that I got to experience the pre-internet era when you had to gamble and drive long miles in the hopes of finding an old truss from the 1800s.

The internet has changed the game completely.

[Max Rockatansky]

To fair the Fresno County Bridge two posts above isn't really accessible due to private property unless you want to float a canoe down the San Joaquin River. 

[danthecatrafficlightfan]

found an abandoned arch bridge in cedar creek in.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.357724,-84.9406724,3a,75y,29.17h,74.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8qE0s2CHGyVXlB3exqCHJg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

also here is a site which a picture of the truss bridge i was looking for.

http://eerie-indiana.blogspot.com/2014/01/abandoned-cedar-grove-bridge-franklin.html

the arch bridge was just a lucky find!

[danthecatrafficlightfan]

some in live oak florida

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.384697,-83.175761,3a,51.8y,97.61h,86.92t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sApVYclIsQTvkySdQNTcP5g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DApVYclIsQTvkySdQNTcP5g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D63.27028%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100?hl=en&authuser=0

and another.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3980899,-82.9378754,3a,16.4y,142.3h,88.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svJZnEK-BbosaK7oSzTLXbw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&authuser=0

[bugo]

Capital letters please.