News:

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on what errors you encountered from the forum database changes made in Fall 2023. Let us know if you discover anymore.

Main Menu

Oldest bridge on your state highway system

Started by US 89, June 13, 2017, 10:27:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

US 89

How old is the oldest bridge on your state highway system, that you know of?

For Utah, I believe it is the bridge for SR-68 over US-89 in Woods Cross. It was built in 1933 for a railroad, and converted to vehicle traffic in 1960.


Max Rockatansky

#1
The oldest one I can think of in California off the top of my head is the Pumpkin Hollow Bridge from 1922 which is on CA 198.  I know of some older bridges that were on former highway alignments and I'm sure there are others out there that are active but date back further.

IMG_5611 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Edit:  I completely forgot about the Fernbridge on CA 211 which was built in 1911.

hotdogPi

#2
Bridge, Choate. MA 1A/133 overlap. Ipswich, MA, 1764, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choate_Bridge. Accessed 13 June 2017.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

oscar

In Hawaii, the oldest bridge on its state highway system probably is the one-lane Mokulehua Bridge on Maui's HI 360, at mile 28.31 near the east end of that famously curvaceous route (part of the Hana Highway). I know only about that route and also HI 560 on Kauai, which also has some one-lane bridges more than a century old. But those are the only two state routes under historic preservation restrictions, and odds are the unprotected old one lane bridges on other highways have long been replaced with modern two-lane bridges.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

cl94

Oldest in NY? That's a really good question. Oldest I can find on the state highway system is a bridge on NY 5 over Onondaga Creek in Syracuse. 1850. There are 2 in Troy (US 4 SB and NY 66, both over Poesten Kill) dating to 1875.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

Travel Mapping (updated weekly)

kurumi

Main Street over SR 598 in Hartford, CT opened to traffic in 1833. (SR 598 was constructed a "few years" later; the original crossing was over the Park River, which was capped by the SR 598 freeway in 1945. Another bit of trivia: SR 598 was briefly designated, but never signed, as Interstate 484.)

Edit: technically the bridge is over the state highway system, not on it... does that disqualify it?
My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"

JJBers

Here it is
I guess US 13 in Northeast Pennsylvania drives on the oldest road bridge in the USA.

Public Domain,  Coemgenus (Wikimedia Commons)
*for Connecticut
Clinched Stats,
Flickr,
(2di:I-24, I-76, I-80, I-84, I-95 [ME-GA], I-91)

Rothman

Quote from: JJBers on June 14, 2017, 12:12:24 PM
Here it is
I guess US 13 in Northeast Pennsylvania drives on the oldest road bridge in the USA.

Public Domain,  Coemgenus (Wikimedia Commons)
Heh.  You meant Philadelphia, silly man.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

US 89

Actually, I hadn't even thought of bridges crossing rivers...

With that in mind, uglybridges.com suggests the oldest bridge on the UT state highway system is on US 89 over Hobble Creek in Springville, built in 1913. But a quick GSV shows that there isn't even a bridge there.
In that case, it is the US 89/91 bridge over the Logan River in Logan, built in 1918 and reconstructed in 1951.


SteveG1988

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,

TheHighwayMan3561

#10
Minnesota's is hard to pinpoint (and I don't have the desire to run through all 87 counties at this point) but I'd say a pretty good contender for the oldest bridge on a current state highway is the Mendota Bridge on MN 55, opened 1926.

It appears the Oliver Bridge (MN 39) in Duluth is older, 1916.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

MNHighwayMan

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 15, 2017, 07:41:17 AM
Minnesota's is hard to pinpoint (and I don't have the desire to run through all 87 counties at this point) but I'd say a pretty good contender for the oldest bridge on a current state highway is the Mendota Bridge on MN 55, opened 1926.

It appears the Oliver Bridge (MN 39) in Duluth is older, 1916.

And the Oliver Bridge is a sweet bridge, with a deck carrying a railroad above the road deck.


JJBers

Quote from: kurumi on June 14, 2017, 12:08:44 PM
Main Street over SR 598 in Hartford, CT opened to traffic in 1833. (SR 598 was constructed a "few years" later; the original crossing was over the Park River, which was capped by the SR 598 freeway in 1945. Another bit of trivia: SR 598 was briefly designated, but never signed, as Interstate 484.)

Edit: technically the bridge is over the state highway system, not on it... does that disqualify it?
I'm not sure if it counts, but if it doesn't, that means the West Cornwall Covered Bridge, with CT 128 is the oldest (1841). Saying that, a old stone arch bridge in Willimantic was used for a unsigned route until 2002 is from 1857.
*for Connecticut
Clinched Stats,
Flickr,
(2di:I-24, I-76, I-80, I-84, I-95 [ME-GA], I-91)

roadman65

Matthews Bridge in Jacksonville. 1953 it was opened, as many others have perished over time with roadway widenings and such.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

US71

Likely the Mulberry River Bridge (if you want one that is still active on the highway system)

https://bridgehunter.com/ar/crawford/mulberry-64/

There are older, but not on the present highway system
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Mapmikey

Quote from: roadman65 on June 16, 2017, 09:28:31 AM
Matthews Bridge in Jacksonville. 1953 it was opened, as many others have perished over time with roadway widenings and such.

US 17 bridge over St Mary's River was built in 1927

DTComposer

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 13, 2017, 10:30:12 PM
The oldest one I can think of in California off the top of my head is the Pumpkin Hollow Bridge from 1922 which is on CA 198.  I know of some older bridges that were on former highway alignments and I'm sure there are others out there that are active but date back further.

IMG_5611 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Edit:  I completely forgot about the Fernbridge on CA 211 which was built in 1911.

Not quite as fancy, but the Saratoga Creek bridge on CA-9 dates to 1902:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.2485119,-122.0686125,3a,75y,65.29h,83.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sP--huvrvEzhZiK1DmHAkWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: DTComposer on June 16, 2017, 05:02:57 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 13, 2017, 10:30:12 PM
The oldest one I can think of in California off the top of my head is the Pumpkin Hollow Bridge from 1922 which is on CA 198.  I know of some older bridges that were on former highway alignments and I'm sure there are others out there that are active but date back further.

IMG_5611 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Edit:  I completely forgot about the Fernbridge on CA 211 which was built in 1911.

Not quite as fancy, but the Saratoga Creek bridge on CA-9 dates to 1902:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.2485119,-122.0686125,3a,75y,65.29h,83.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sP--huvrvEzhZiK1DmHAkWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Geeze...no wonder I've never noticed it before, not the slightest bit ornate at all.

kkt

Not finding a convenient single list, but for Washington and Oregon perhaps the Interstate Bridge northbound half, built in 1917.

Bitmapped

In West Virginia, the oldest bridge on the state highway system is the Monument Place Bridge in Wheeling. It was built in 1817 and carries US 40 (National Road) across Little Wheeling Creek.

7/8

#20
According to this site, the oldest bridge on Ontario's King's Highway System is the Highway 8 bridge over the Avon River in Stratford, ON (built in 1885). http://www.thekingshighway.ca/faq.htm

Tom958

Georgia: I'm disinclined to search all one hundred fifty nine counties right now, but it's doubtful that there's one older than US 29 over the BeltLine on the south side of Atlanta, c. 1905.

froggie

Looking through Vermont's inventory, oldest bridge I can find on the state highway system is an 1889 bridge along US 7 in Pittsford.

This is NOT, by far, the oldest bridge on a public road in Vermont, however.  There are (according to the inventory) 55 older bridges on public roads, with the oldest being an 1824 covered bridge on a town road along the Middlebury/New Haven town line.

froggie

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 15, 2017, 07:41:17 AM
Minnesota's is hard to pinpoint (and I don't have the desire to run through all 87 counties at this point) but I'd say a pretty good contender for the oldest bridge on a current state highway is the Mendota Bridge on MN 55, opened 1926.

It appears the Oliver Bridge (MN 39) in Duluth is older, 1916.

According to NBI (FHWA's National Bridge Inventory), the bridge over Swede Hollow on East 7th St (MN 5) near downtown St. Paul was built in 1885.

Until it was replaced a few years ago, the MN 65 Silverdale Bridge had the record, being built in 1877.

There's a bridge on MN 21, effectively within the "interchange" at 169, that dates to 1900.

The aforementioned MN 39 bridge is next.  Just after it is the 3rd Ave Bridge in Minneapolis (MN 65), built in 1917.

Duke87

Quote from: kurumi on June 14, 2017, 12:08:44 PM
Main Street over SR 598 in Hartford, CT opened to traffic in 1833. (SR 598 was constructed a "few years" later; the original crossing was over the Park River, which was capped by the SR 598 freeway in 1945. Another bit of trivia: SR 598 was briefly designated, but never signed, as Interstate 484.)

Edit: technically the bridge is over the state highway system, not on it... does that disqualify it?

Well... who maintains the bridge? If it's state-maintained I say it counts.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.