Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere.

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Bridges By County: County Menu

Select a county to view the available bridges for that county. Counties are grouped by state/province. Michigan appears first in the list; the rest are in alphabetical order by state/province name. A short overview of what is in each state/province is presented below the names as well. A clickable interactive map is also available for Michigan counties. On the map, names in red denote counties that have a page.


Michigan

About Michigan

Michigan is noted for preserving a few truss bridges, leaving a lot of them closed, and demolishing the rest. There are a still a good number of pin connected truss bridges remaining, as well as early 1900s warren pony trusses. 1930s massive steel truss bridges do not remain within the state. Concrete bridges became the dominant bridge in the late 1910s in Michigan, which included Michigan's unique curved-chord through girder bridges. Since I live in Michigan, I can spend more time photographing non-truss bridges like the concrete bridges. You will find many non-truss bridges featured in Michigan.

 

Alger County
Allegan County
Barry County
Calhoun County
Cheboygan County
Clinton County
Eaton County
Emmet County
Genesee County
Hillsdale County
Huron County
Ingham County
Iosco County
Ionia County
Kalamazoo County
Kent County
Lapeer County
Lenawee County
Livingston County
Mackinac County
Macomb County
Marquette County
Midland County
Montmorency
Monroe County
Saginaw County
Sanilac County
Shiawassee County
St. Clair County
St. Joseph County
Tuscola County
Washtenaw County
Wayne County

 


Ontario

About Ontario

Southwestern Ontario, the second largest coverage area for this website. Ontario takes good care of its truss bridges, but pin connected truss bridges are few in number. Their truss bridges are usually on busy roads as opposed to rural dirt roads. Most southwestern Ontario truss bridges date from the 1910s on. I have lots of Welland Canal Bridges, which is in Niagara Region. As a result, I have a wide variety of movable-span bridges for Niagara Region.

  Bruce County
Chattham-Kent Region
Haldimand County
Lambton County
Middlesex County

Niagara Region

Indiana

About Indiana

All of the bridges I currently feature for Indiana are from Elkhart County. I hope to expand this in the future, however the number of truss bridges in northern Indiana is very limited, which is where my feasible coverage area is at this time. The more interesting stuff tends to be in southern Indiana. Indiana seems to have had a heavy concrete arch program, as inventories show a large number of arch bridges in the state.

  Elkhart County

 

Ohio

About Ohio

Although there is currently only one Ohio bridge represented on this website, it should be noted that most of Ohio is a land of opportunity for historic truss bridge hunters. The density of historic bridges varies greatly by county, as does the way the bridges are treated. Delaware County treats their historic bridges like fecal waste material, while nearby Morrow County is filled with truss bridges that are usually still open to traffic. Truss bridge enthusiasts should be aware that the US Bridge company builds modern truss bridges for Ohio as well, and so not all truss bridges in Ohio are historic.

  Fulton County

 

New York

About New York

Most of the bridges I have for New York are on the Erie Canal. The people in charge of the Erie Canal use money to talk NYSDOT out of demolishing the Erie Canal bridges, and so many of the truss bridges I feature here are restored. Thank the Erie Canal authorities, not NYSDOT for the restored bridges you will find in here.

  Niagara County

Pennsylvania

About Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has perhaps the largest quantity and diversity of truss bridges, ranging from rural 1880s pin connected truss bridges to large 1920s and 30s highway truss bridges with massive members. They have done a good job of maintaining them in the past, but as the bridges age, more than just maintenance has become necessary. With the truly historic bridges, such as 1880s pin connected truss bridges, Pennsylvania nearly always chooses demolition over restoration. Now Pennsylvania has become the truss bridge slaughterhouse, as tons of beautiful, historic, and one-of-a-kind truss bridges are demolished. Pittsburgh is an exception to this. Crawford County seems to have the most truss bridges, and Elk County had the most beautiful truss bridges.

  Allegheny County
Clarion County
Crawford County
Elk County
Forest County
Mercer County
Venango County
Warren County