Technorati Tags: photos, photographs, photography, Tennessee River, historic bridges, Chattanooga TN
Archive for the 'Historic Bridges' Category
Another shot of TennBridge in the late evening …
So, I’ve discovered that North Carolina set up a program to let private folk acquire and re-use some of the state’s historic metal truss bridges back in 1978. I think this is commendable … though I wonder what happened with McGirt’s Bridge. Perhaps there was no interest in Elizabethtown in saving it? Maybe the funds to maintain it couldn’t be found?
One of the bridges that’s up for adoption is the old US 70 bridge in New Bern. I’m hoping this one gets saved … it’s a cool Warren thru truss bridge that pivots in the center (or at least it used to). I remember seeing it in operation as a kid.
Speaking of McGirt’s Bridge, I found some more photos of it on the Library of Congress web site.
A day or so ago, I posted a link to an article in the Chattanoogan about saving the Marion Memorial Bridge. It referenced an earlier article that’s no longer available on their site. However … I located a copy of the article, which discusses the history of the bridge. One interesting tidbit … the bridge was raised 21 feet when Nickajack Lake was created! The article features a photo of the bridge prior to its being raised for the lake. Read More: Marion Memorial Bridge Connected Chattanooga to Points West
James Baughn of bridgehunter.com has created a 2007 calendar featuring historic bridges of Missouri, and it’s available for $14.95 from lulu.com. Get yours today! (This also serves as official notice that this is on my Christmas gift list … for those of you who are interested …)
I just ran across an article in the Times Free Press about the Market Street Bridge renovation. The article itself isn’t all that noteworthy, save this quote from Leonard Williams, the regional bridge manager for TDOT:
The only truss bridge we’ll keep after 10 years is the Market Street Bridge — because of its historic value.That’s pretty clear … operational truss bridges in Tennessee are on death row. But, it doesn’t rule out saving the bridges. Our own Walnut Street Bridge is still here. Nashville’s Shelby Street Bridge is still around. If we work together, perhaps more of these historic bridges can be saved with private money and maintained for generations to come.
I remember, as a child, visiting Elizabethtown, NC … where my parents lived just after getting married. I have fond memories of McGirt’s Bridge, which carried US 701 over the Cape Fear River. It was that bridge that prompted my love of truss bridges. That bridge is gone now … demolished by NCDOT about 20 years ago. I count myself lucky to have seen it before it was demolished … I think it was probably the most impressive truss bridge left in NC at the time.
I understand, of course, that it’s not feasible to save every truss bridge in the state. But … let’s keep some of them around for our children. They are a wonderful glimpse into the early history of motoring in our nation. Let’s not let TDOT murder another bridge like the Clinch River Bridge in Kingston without hearing from us!
Read More: Rebuilding a tie across the river
Technorati Tags: historic bridges, bridges, Clinch River Bridge, McGirt’s Bridge, Market Street Bridge
Just minutes ago I re-discovered this story from a diver who performed an underwater inspection of the piers of the Market Street Bridge a few years ago. It contains some information about the construction of the bridge, and is pretty interesting.
Read More: Mainstream Commercial Diving (at the Market Street Bridge)
Technorati Tags: bridges, Market Street Bridge, Chattanooga TN, Tennessee River
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