Sticking with the series on the Great Flood of 2024, we have this postcard and the first crossing located at present-day Grand Avenue in Spencer. The beauty behind this is the fact that the through truss bridge in this picture is still in use but at its present-day location. This postcard is of the first span of the Grand Avenue Bridge. It featured two through truss spans plus a long wooden trestle bridge in between the truss spans. Records indicated that the bridge was constructed in 1889. Most likely it was with Pratt through truss spans with Town Lattice portal bracings crossing both the Little Sioux and the tributary running alongside it. The span over the Little Sioux was replaced in 1901 with the Pennsylvania through truss bridge with A-frame portal bracings, as seen in this postcard. Clinton Bridge and Iron Works Company was awarded the contract for the replacement span. Because of the increase in the volume of traffic, the entire crossing was replaced with the five-span concrete arch bridge in 1917, which lasted until 2006. The truss bridge itself was relocated to the north of Spencer, where it carried 210th Avenue. The structure has since been closed to traffic but remains in its original form as you can see from my 2011 photo:
The bridge has survived several flooding incidences, including the last ones in 1993 and again in 2011. As the river recedes from its record high of 21.4 feet set on June 23rd, the bridge has survived another flood event, according to the locals- still in tact but muddied up given its proximity to the river, wildlife area and the adjacent gravel pit. The Pennsylvania truss bridge has proven to be a reslient truss type to resist such weather extremities, which makes for reconsideration about reintroducing the truss bridge as an alternative for constructing new bridges for highways and streets. But there is the question of whether the bridge is better off at a different location to be reused as a pedestrian crossing, built on higher land.
That would require some research as well as interest. With this bridge having a history that ties in with Spencer’s, it worth a shot giving Rusty a new life.
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The Bridgehunter's Chronicles 