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[fillup420]

North Carolina seems to have a thing for this. I drove up NC 49 the other day and noticed NCDOT had replaced a small creek bridge by building it next to the old one, and then slightly rerouting the roadway. to me it seems like an overkill way to replace a bridge. yall know of any more examples like this?

[MikeTheActuary]

Well, there's the Tappan Zee outside New York City, the Pont Samuel-de Champlain in Montréal....

It's a fairly common tactic, I think.

[wanderer2575]

I'd guess it's usually done to avoid the lengthy detours of a total road closure.

Or the bridge is retained for historical significance or recreational value.  When MDOT constructed the current US-12 bridge over the St. Joseph River in Mottville MI, it kept the previous narrow camelback bridge and the old highway alignment west of it was made into a small park.

Google Maps link:  https://goo.gl/maps/9Y4gJGFjRGPTwevM7

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty much every modern bridge on US 1 in the Florida Keys. 

[jeffandnicole]

Yep, this is done quite often.  When the roadway is slightly shifted to the new bridge, it can often be done so that most motorists aren't even aware of the slight shift.

For smaller overpasses, most of the NJ Turnpike overpasses that have been rebuilt were rebuilt right next to the original bridge, sometimes within a foot of the old bridge.

It's also common to build half of the new bridge just slightly off the current alignment.  When the old bridge is demolished, the remaining half of the new bridge is built in the vicinity of the old bridge.  Such is going on here at an old lift-bridge on US 130 in NJ: https://goo.gl/maps/teBqz8PkcSmJGuTp8 .  The lift bridge formerly held 4 lanes, no shoulders. The new SB overpass has been built here right next to the lift bridge and currently is hosting one lane per direction.  You can see the new bridge supports going up right where the lift bridge is located, which will eventually be for the Northbound lanes.  In the end, the new bridge will have 4 lanes and full shoulders.

[Beltway]

Happens on from the smallest bridges to the largest bridges.

The Woodrow Wilson Bridge on I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway.

[JKRhodes]

Yep, this is done quite often.  When the roadway is slightly shifted to the new bridge, it can often be done so that most motorists aren't even aware of the slight shift.

This works well if the road is already somewhat curved. In my lifetime I've seen several bridges replaced in Arizona; the majority of them are on a straight stretch of road. The jog, while not hard to navigate, is pretty obvious. This tends to be amplified due to the fact that the newer bridges tend to have wider decks to accommodate more lanes, shoulders, sidewalks and other safety features. .

[sprjus4]

I-10 over Escambia Bay outside of Pensacola, FL; also I-10 over Lake Pontchartrain outside of New Orleans, LA.

The shift is quite noticeable on both examples.

[TheStranger]

Three bridge replacements in the last decade in the Bay Area have had this happen:

- the Treasure Island-Oakland portion of the Bay Bridge
- the southbound lanes of the Carquinez Bridge
- the northbound lanes of the Benicia Bridge

If I'm not mistaken, the same thing happened with the Dumbarton Bridge in the 1980s

[jakeroot]

Yeah, this is definitely quite common. Still interesting!

A relatively cool example near me would be the McMillin Bridge (a concrete half-through truss bridge), along WA-162 between Sumner and Orting. The old bridge was wearing out quickly, but was on the register of historic places. They built a new bridge alongside the old one, rerouted the highway onto the new bridge (complete with a new curve in the highway), and left the old one exactly where it had been for about 70-ish years. It was designed by Homer Hadley, designer of the original US-10 Lake Washington Floating Bridge (sunk in 1990).

Google Maps Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/s9w3sCZfp7aZwSuS8

[vdeane]

Yep, this is done quite often.  When the roadway is slightly shifted to the new bridge, it can often be done so that most motorists aren't even aware of the slight shift.

This works well if the road is already somewhat curved. In my lifetime I've seen several bridges replaced in Arizona; the majority of them are on a straight stretch of road. The jog, while not hard to navigate, is pretty obvious. This tends to be amplified due to the fact that the newer bridges tend to have wider decks to accommodate more lanes, shoulders, sidewalks and other safety features. .

That jog when this happens on sufficiently straight roads is annoying.  Here's a local example.  Meanwhile, there are other cases like NY 441 over I-490 where it's not even possible to tell that the old bridge was next to the new one unless you remember the construction.

Yeah, this is definitely quite common. Still interesting!

A relatively cool example near me would be the McMillin Bridge (a concrete half-through truss bridge), along WA-162 between Sumner and Orting. The old bridge was wearing out quickly, but was on the register of historic places. They built a new bridge alongside the old one, rerouted the highway onto the new bridge (complete with a new curve in the highway), and left the old one exactly where it had been for about 70-ish years. It was designed by Homer Hadley, designer of the original US-10 Lake Washington Floating Bridge (sunk in 1990).

Google Maps Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/s9w3sCZfp7aZwSuS8

Reminds me of a similar situation on NY 5S.  One bridge is an old rail bridge (and, currently, the road, though not in the street view), the other has the Erie Canal Trail.  Which one has the road and which one the trail seems to periodically be swapped.  The southern (former road, current trail) bridge was actually a temporary section of Thruway when the Thruway bridges over Schoharie Creek were washed out.

[JKRhodes]

That jog when this happens on sufficiently straight roads is annoying.  Here's a local example.  Meanwhile, there are other cases like NY 441 over I-490 where it's not even possible to tell that the old bridge was next to the new one unless you remember the construction.

Wow that's a pretty sharp shift in alignment! I'd be worried about getting into a head-on collision with someone who isn't paying attention.

The bridge down the road from my house has a fairly pretty obvious jog, made more obvious by the deviation from the straight path of the power lines and irrigation ditch, nonetheless easy to navigate:
https://goo.gl/maps/BWg5fDoEEyrWuF4w7

About a half hour west of me, ADOT replaced a bridge on US 70 about 10 years ago near Bylas. Approaching from the east, the road is straight, and the jog is obvious. From the west, the road makes a turn, and the approach was tied in seamlessly to the curve in the road:

https://goo.gl/maps/WUUjxHcNcm8ACWR76

Side note: Google is making some amazing things happen with their 3D rendering technology.

[vdeane]

Another example: while the new Seaway Bridge is mostly tied in like it was always there, there is a very noticeable jog at the toll plaza, which was built adjacent to one of the piers for the original bridge.

[fillup420]

hmmm so it seems this is very common. I guess NCDOT didn’t do a very good job because the roadway shift was quite noticeable, and they placed s-turn warning signs on either side.

[jeffandnicole]

hmmm so it seems this is very common. I guess NCDOT didn’t do a very good job because the roadway shift was quite noticeable, and they placed s-turn warning signs on either side.

It's not that they didn't do a good job, but as shown above sometimes there's not much choice. 

[Bruce]

The new SR 520 Floating Bridge in Seattle actually got rid of a jog in the original bridge on the west end. You can see the old bridge at right making an extra swoop coming off the original approach structure.

[kphoger]

In Branson (MO), when they replaced the Taneycomo bridge, they left the old one up and open to traffic.  The new one serves Branson Landing directly, while the old one (previously/still US-65-Bus) skirts around the edge of that district.  Aerial view here.  Street view here.

[GaryV]

The M-104 drawbridge between Spring Lake and Ferrysburg was replaced in the mid-60's with a high bridge on a parallel line to the south.  Savidge St was reconstructed to the south, and a stub of old Savidge St remains to access the properties on the old bridge approach.

[KEVIN_224]

The Seabees Memorial Bridge along VT/NH Route 9, over the Connecticut River between Brattleboro, VT and Chesterfield, NH...

Heading west on NH Route 9 in Chesterfield (May 2017).


Heading east on VT Route 9 in Brattleboro, with the Amtrak bridge just before it (December 2016).


A better shot of the bridges from the Vermont side (May 2016).


The sign on the old span. It's only open for pedestrian use now.

[BrianP]

A favorite of mine in MD:
https://goo.gl/maps/s8Jn48swKGHiAYZf6

[US71]

Arkadelphia, AR

The original 1903 Ouachita River bridge was replaced by one immediately next to it in 1960.

[Max Rockatansky]

The 1928 Fanny Bridge on Legislative Route 38 (now CA 89) replaced the 1913 Lake Tahoe Dam which is less than a 100 feet away. 

[RobbieL2415]

In CT:
-Sikorsky Bridge, Merritt Parkway, replacement completed 2006.  Former structure was infamous "upside-down" steel-girder design.

-Charter Oak Bridge, replaced 1991.  Last bridge to be under jurisdiction of now-defunct Greater Hartford Bridge Authority.  Last bridge to collect tolls.

-Pearl Harbor "Q" Memorial Bridge, replacement completed 2016.  Replaced 1958 structure.

-Mianus River Bridge, replacement complete 1992, replacing collapsed original structure.

-Baldwin Bridge, replacement complete 1993, replacing 1944 structure.

[SteveG1988]

Great Bay Blvd in New Jersey was built with narrow bridges off-center to allow for eventual replacement with regular bridges should the road be completed as intended, with a bridge over the great bay.

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

[stevashe]

New I-5 bridges in Tacoma over the Puyallup River, which actually straightens the freeway a bit by moving the bridge. Shown here is construction of the northbound bridge which is now complete. Currently both directions of mainline traffic are routed on the new northbound bridge while the old northbound bridge is demolished and the new southbound bridge is being built. Currently the old southbound bridge is also being used for traffic headed to the exit just on the other side of the river (Exit 135 to SR167 and Portland Ave), shown near the top of this photo.

New northbound I-5 Puyallup River Bridge with SR 167 Ramp Bridge in Background by Washington State Dept of Transportation, on Flickr