Watts Mill Bridge

Watts Mill Bridge
Bridge in South Beaver Township
Watts Mill Bridge in September 2008
Country United States
State Pennsylvania
County Beaver
Township South Beaver
Road Watts Mill Road (single lane)
Crosses Little Beaver Creek
Coordinates 40°47′26″N 80°29′38″W / 40.79056°N 80.49389°WCoordinates: 40°47′26″N 80°29′38″W / 40.79056°N 80.49389°W
Length 109 ft (33 m) [1]
 - Mainspan 48 ft (15 m) [2]
Width 12.5 ft (4 m) [1]
Builder West Penn Bridge Company
Design Pin-connected Pratt pony truss bridge
Material Steel
Built 1878
Owned and Maintained by PennDOT
NBI Number 044009006000000
Load 14.5 t (16.0 short tons) [1]
Location of the Watts Mill Bridge in Pennsylvania
Bridge in South Beaver Township
Area less than one acre
Architect West Penn Bridge Co.
MPS Highway Bridges Owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation TR
NRHP Reference # 88000868[3]
Added to NRHP June 22, 1988

The Watts Mill Bridge is a pin-connected Pratt pony truss bridge located over the Little Beaver Creek in Cannelton, Pennsylvania, United States.

The bridge was constructed in 1878 by the West Penn Bridge Company, based in nearby New Brighton. The bridge is located in a valley approximately a quarter mile north of the North Country Trail. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. When the bridge was given this designation by the NRHP, it was simply known as the Bridge in South Beaver Township. It is the only bridge in Beaver County on the National Register for itself,[3] although the Bridgewater-Rochester Bridge over the Beaver River is part of the Bridgewater Historic District in Bridgewater to the south.[4]

In 2004, the bridge, which was becoming rusty and falling into disrepair and considered for demolition by PennDOT, was placed on the Top Ten Best Historic Preservation Opportunities in the Pittsburgh Area by the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh. No major renovations have been done to the bridge.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory (2009). "Place Name: South Beaver (Township of), Pennsylvania NBI Structure Number: 044009006000000; Facility Carried: Watts Mill RD; Feature Intersected: Little Beaver Creek". Nationalbridges.com (Alexander Svirsky). Retrieved April 9, 2009. Note: this is a formatted scrape of the 2006 official website, which can be found here for Pennsylvania: "PA06.txt". Federal Highway Administration. 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
  2. ↑ PennDOT (October 1, 1982). "Nomination Form" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  4. ↑ Buerkle, John, Jr., and Mike Eversmeyer. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Bridgewater Historic District. National Park Service, 1996-03-03, 5.