The Lincoln Road–Pine River Bridge, also known as the Riverdale Bridge, was a bridge located on Lincoln Road over the Pine River near Seville, Michigan. The architect behind the Lincoln Road–Pine River Bridge was the Michigan State Highway Department and its builder was Walter Willets. The bridge is notable for being a large early example of an arched through girder bridge in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and for sitting on substantially skewed abutments. 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 1999.

History

The Michigan State Highway Department first designed an arched through

girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge de ...

in 1921, and built the first of them over the

River Raisin The River Raisin is a river in southeastern Michigan, United States, that flows through Ice age, glacial sediments into Lake Erie. The area today is an agriculture, agricultural and Industrial sector, industrial center of Michigan. The river flo ...

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

. Later versions of the design followed; among the earliest was this bridge over the Pine River. The bridge was constructed for the M-46 trunkline and designated number 291402. In October 1921 the state contracted Walter Willets to construct the bridge. The bridge was completed the following year at a total cost of $18,186.15. The bridge eventually suffered from severe

spall Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...

ing, and in 2009 it was demolished and replaced.

Description

The 1922 Lincoln Road–Pine River Bridge had a single main span stretching . The bridge was wide with a roadway width of . It was constructed using two arched concrete through girders which sat on brackets projecting from concrete abutments. Twelve concrete floor beams ran between the girders to support the roadway. The sides of the bridge featured recessed panels and five arched cutouts. The bridge served in essentially unaltered condition until it was demolished.

References

External links

2009 photos
from www.historicbridges.org
2006 photos
from www.historicbridges.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln Road-Pine River Bridge Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Bridges completed in 1922 Buildings and structures in Gratiot County, Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Gratiot County, Michigan Girder bridges in the United States Concrete bridges in the United States