The Big Blue River Bridge near Surprise, Nebraska is a pin-connected

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

bridge that was built in 1897. It was designed and built by the

Canton Bridge Co. Canton Bridge Company was a firm that was later incorporated into the American Bridge Company. The firm was established in Canton, Ohio in 1892 and became one of the nation's biggest bridge-builders during the early 20th century. It designed an ...

with steel fabricated by the Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. Also denoted NEHBS No. BU00-84, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1992. It was deemed significant as a relatively rare example, and one of the oldest examples documented in Nebraska, of a

truss leg bedstead A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...

bridge. and As of 2010, the bridge was closed to traffic.See October 2010 photo of bridge The Bridge is no longer closed.

References

External links

* Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Bridges completed in 1897 Buildings and structures in Butler County, Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Butler County, Nebraska Transportation in Butler County, Nebraska Steel bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States {{Nebraska-bridge-struct-stub