P-22-0158
WisDOT Designation: Local - Rural
Current Owner: Town of Mount Ida
Year Built: 1919
County: Grant County
Crossing: Big Green River
Bridge Category: Riveted, Warren pony truss
Spans and Type: 1 span, pony truss
Overall Length and Width: 50 feet x 16 feet
National Register of Historic Places Status: Determined Eligible for listing in the National Register
Details
The Big Green Road Bridge is a single-span, riveted, steel Warren pony truss with a concrete deck. The total structure length is 50 feet with an out-to-out width of 16 feet. It has four panels, each 12 feet, 6 inches measured along the bottom chord. The top chord consists of two channels with top plate and underside V-lacing while the bottom chord is paired angles with batten plates. Vertical and diagonal members are composed of two angles. All members and connections are riveted.
Two original metal rails on each side of the bridge are composed of channel members riveted to the vertical members of the truss. The floor system is composed of a concrete deck on four steel floor beams suspended from truss verticals and four steel stringers. The expansion bearing is buried and not visible. Below the superstructure of the bridge are abutments on both sides. An abutment incorporates a pair of metal piers that serve as bridge seats for the bearings with a steel plate backwall between the piers. Throughout the structure's history, it has received regular preemptive maintenance.
The Big Green Road Bridge is one of 80 standard-plan truss bridges constructed throughout Wisconsin in 1919. A bridge had existed at this crossing from at least 1895 and was replaced by the current bridge. A plaque on the southwest end post of the bridge states that it was fabricated by the Elkhart Bridge & Iron Co. of Elkhart, Indiana, and constructed by W.E. Gifford. Elkhart Bridge & Iron Co. was founded in 1904 and fabricated 4,000 tons of steel annually. It was a prolific out-of-state builder creating truss bridges across Wisconsin.
Once the fabrication of the bridge was done, it was handed off to W.E. Gifford of Madison, Wisconsin — a bridge contracting agent of the Elkhart Bridge & Iron Co. — to build the bridge over the river. The word “Bethlehem" can be found on several members of the bridge, indicating the steel was produced by the Bethlehem Steel Company of Pennsylvania.