Historic Bridge Awareness Month

November is Historic Bridge Awareness Month. HistoricBridges.org commemorated the month by recalling most significant recently lost and threatened bridges. See HistoricBridges.org for more information and plan to visit our nation's greatest threatened bridges before they, too, are gone.

Bridge Finial for Sale

An ornate finial from a bridge built by the Champion Bridge Company is for sale. The seller estimates the height at 16" and the weight is 44.4 pounds. He is asking $400 but will entertain other offers. See images here.

For more information, contact Barry Taylor at barry@gbarrytaylor.com.

Kittanning Citizens Bridge Stars in a Film

Filming is underway for the Kittanning Citizens Bridge to be in its second movie!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/leadertimes/news/s_697235.html

First it was the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant that collapsed in the movie, "Mothman Prophecies." This time it is the Trenton Makes Bridge that will be in the movie "One for the Money", starring Katherine Heigl.

Carlton Road Bridge Closed

Nathan Clark reports that the Carlton Road Bridge in Mercer County, PA has been closed due to deck deterioration and is planned to be replaced in 2014. The 1898 bridge just visited during the Second Annual Historic Bridge Weekend.

See below for the press release:

Oil City -- Carlton Road Bridge, which carries State Route 1015 over French Creek, in French Creek Twp., will be closed immediately due to extensive deterioration to the steel deck. The truss bridge, built in 1898, had previously been posted at eight tons.

Motorists headed north or east may detour west onto Sunol Road (S.R. 1028), then proceed north on PA 173 and onto US 322. For motorists headed south or west, follow US 322 north to PA 173 south and onto Sunol Road (S.R. 1028).

The Carlton Road Bridge is scheduled to be replaced in 2014. The preliminary design work on the project has already started.

Three New Pennsylvania Counties: Butler, Crawford, and Mifflin

Bridges in three new Pennsylvania counties have been added to BridgeMapper today. Added are:
- Butler County
- Crawford County
- Mifflin County

The addition of Butler and Crawford counties should help visitors in planning for the upcoming Historic Bridge Weekend.

PA Turnpike Allegheny River Bridge Demolished

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Allegheny River Bridge has been demolished:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10194/1072478-455.stm

Bellaire Bridge to be Demolished

The historic Bellaire Bridge is to be demolished in the next few weeks.

Bridgemapper and HistoricBridges.org visited the bridge this past weekend and filmed a news piece for Wheeling's channel WTOV 9. The bridge is so structurally sound that the demolition company will be driving their trucks onto the bridge.

Bridgemapper in New York City

Bridgemapper just returned from a trip to New York City. Stay tuned to see some of America's most famous bridges on our site!

New Feature: Search by Bridge Name

BridgeMapper is proud to announce we now have search capabilities! Check out our new and improved Bridge List, where you can now search for bridges by name.

Three New Pennsylvania Counties Added, 4000 Hits

BridgeMapper added three new western Pennsylvania counties this weekend. Bridges in Erie, Indiana, and Mercer counties have all been added to the site.

We also recently surpassed 4,000 hits!

Historical Society Bridge Lectures

Todd Wilson will be giving two lectures on historic bridges at Pittsburgh area historical societies this week.

Tomorrow, he'll be in West Mifflin, giving a lecture to the Mifflin Township Historical Society. Tuesday, he'll be in Squirrel Hill, giving a lecture to the Squirrel Hill Historical Society.

Details for both lectures are below.

Historic Bridges of Mifflin Township
Monday, April 12, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
West Mifflin Borough Building
3000 Lebanon Church Rd
West Mifflin, PA 15122

Noteworthy Bridges in the Squirrel Hill Area
Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Sixth Presbyterian Church
1688 Murray Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

New Map Features

I added several new map features over the last week.

1. Google Maps are now available on all bridge detail pages. See an example here.

2. Where available, Google Street View is also shown on bridge detail pages. See the above example.

3. The All Bridges Map now contains a search function. This is great for trying to zoom into a particular state or city. Search for a city, state, county, or even a bridge -- anything you would typically search for on Google Maps. Check it out here. (Note that the Google advertising can't be removed).

New Bridge Detail Pages

I updated the bridge detail pages on Bridgemapper last night. Now, you can see key facts on the left sidebar, along with interactive Google maps and Street View images!

Our bridge detail pages can be accessed by selecting any bridge from the All Bridges map or the Bridge List.

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Kinzua Bridge Featured on Wikipedia

The Kinzua Bridge, in McKean County, PA, is the featured article in Wikipedia today. See the feature on Wikipedia's home page.

See Bridgemapper's information on the Kinzua Bridge at it's record page or at the McKean County page.

New Featured Bridge: the Hays Street Bridge

The Hays Street Bridge in San Antonio, TX (Bexar County) is the latest bridge to be featured on Bridgemapper's home page.

Over its 129-year life span, the bridge has served many purposes. Built in 1881 for railroad use, the bridge was converted for vehicular use 1910, closed and abandoned in 1982. After decades of neglect, the bridge is currently being restored for use as a pedestrian bridge! The model project is an example of neighborhood revitalization through historic bridge preservation.

The Hays Street Bridge's main span is an example of a Whipple truss with Phoenix column compression members, one of only a few such surviving examples in the country.

1,000 Bridges!

The Old Pomeroy-Mason Bridge is Bridgemapper.com's 1,000th bridge! Other recent updates include bridges of Texas; Delaware; Massachusetts; Bedford County, Pennsylvania; Somerset County, Pennsylvania; Monroe County, Florida; Washington County, Utah; and Jackson County, West Virginia. We have over a thousand more bridges to add, so keep checking the site!

Greensburg Pike bridge over Route 30 to close March 1

The snow still isn't melted, but it's almost bridge repair season in Pittsburgh...

The bridge carrying Greensburg Pike over Route 30, in North Versailles Township, Allegheny County, will close for repairs on March 1. PennDOT will repair the approaches, guide rail and drainage system. The bridge will remain closed through late November.

Read more at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10054/1037852-56.stm

New Feature: Bridge Detail Pages

I added a detail page for each bridge on Bridgemapper. The detail pages contain the same information shown in the county maps, and can be accessed from either the Bridge List or from the All Bridges map.

The great thing about the bridge detail pages is that you can now link to individual bridges on our site, like this, instead of having to direct users to an entire county.

Hulton Bridge is the latest Featured Bridge

The Hulton Bridge is the latest Featured Bridge on Bridgemapper. The bridge will be featured on our home page, along with links to the Carnegie Mellon University students' presentation on preserving the bridge and the ASCE January 2010 newsletter featuring the project.

Hulton Bridge in ASCE Newsletter

The Hulton Bridge preservation effort was featured in the January 2010 edition of the ASCE Newsletter.

See the newsletter here.

Six New Pennsylvania Counties Added

The following Pennsylvania counties were added to Bridgemapper last night:

Forest County
Lackawanna County
Luzerne County
Northumberland County
Union County
Wyoming County

Bridgemapper Surpasses 750 Bridges

Bridgemapper has surpassed 750 bridges! 756 bridges are now on the site.

All Bridges in One Map

I just added a cool, new feature to Bridgemapper: the ability to see ALL bridges on the site on one map!

To see all of the bridges on Bridgemapper on one map, color coded by type, click on the Map link, and select the new All Bridges link that appears in the top right, above the nationwide map. Please allow a few seconds for all of the bridges to load.

Bridgemapper now has 732 bridges in 11 states.

New Counties in Pennsylvania and California Added

Bridges have been added to Bridgemapper in the following counties:

Pennsylvania
Bradford County
Columbia County
Jefferson County

California
Contra Costa County
Marin County
San Joaquin County
Solano County

Lycoming County, Pennsylvania Added

Lycoming County, in north central Pennsylvania, has been added to the site today.

Lycoming County