Photos
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Alden Main Street Bridge This concrete arch bridge has been well taken care of over the years. Photo taken by Quinn Phelan in December 2008 |
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Another Cold Day For Bridge Hunting The bridge deck covered with snow. I originally set out to photograph 6 bridges in Hardin County this weekend. But with 14" of new snow and a wind-chill of -40* I settled for one. Guess I will have to go back next spring. Photo taken by Quinn Phelan in December 2008 |
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Detail Work This 1936 WPA project has great detail. Photo taken by Quinn Phelan in December 2008 |
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The Alden Dam on the Iowa River Just above the bridge is the Alden dam and spillway on the Iowa River. The city of Alden touts it's self as "The Best City by a Dam Site". Photo taken by Quinn Phelan in December 2008 |
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Historic view of Alden Bridge As it would have looked in the 1930's Courtesy of the Hardin County Community Development Council |
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From Upstream. Looking from the pool above the dam. Photo courtesy of city-data.com, taken in March 2006 |
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The Alden Dam and Spillway The spillway at a full flow. Photo courtesy of city-data.com, taken in May 2004 |
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DETAIL DETAIL OF LIGHT FIXTURE AT NORTHEAST CORNER, FROM NORTH. Photo taken by HAER |
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DETAIL BARREL VIEW FROM SOUTH. Photo taken by HAER |
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DETAIL 3/4 VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST. Photo taken by HAER |
History
Courtesy of the Hardin County Community Development CouncilAn earlier bridge that once crossed the Iowa River in Alden had long united the two sides of this small town. However, by the mid-1930s the existing wood structure had "long since seen its best day," according to the Alden Times. In 1935, the Hardin County government sought to replace both the Alden and Steamboat Rock bridges by securing financial assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In October, the WPA approved the two projects, which were a great boon to Alden's unemployed--used as day labor to help construct the new concrete bridge over the Iowa River. The estimated cost for the 150-foot-long structure at Alden was $20,000. A WPA grant funded $11,163 of the total, and Hardin County financed the reminder.
The Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC) designed the Alden Bridge as a concrete rigid-frame structure, comprised of two spans supported by a concrete substructure. The selection of concrete as the construction material for several Depression-era, WPA-funded bridges was not coincidental. As described by the October 24, 1935, edition of the Alden Times: "The bridges will be of the concrete type with steel reinforcing, since this type provides more employment in building than all steel construction." The Weldon Brothers Construction Company of Iowa Falls won the construction contract, work began in January of 1936, and the bridge was completed that same year. To celebrate its completion, the town officially dedicated the bridge on July 4, 1936, in conjunction with Independence Day activities, with thousands of citizens in attendance.
The Alden Bridge was one of five concrete rigid-frame structures designed by ISHC. The concrete rigid-frame configuration, developed in Westchester County, New York, in the early 1930s, became especially popular for federal relief projects during the 1930s. Both picturesque and practical, the flat-arched design appealed to proponents of urban beautification. The ISHC, like many state highway departments, built a tentative number of rigid frames in the 1930s, of which Alden Bridge is a distinguished, early example.
The Alden Bridge is located on Main St. over the Iowa River, in Alden.
Facts
- Overview
- Arch bridge over Iowa River on Main Street in Alden
- Location
- Hardin County, Iowa
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1900
- Design
- Arch
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 75.1 ft.
Total length: 149.9 ft.
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.52038, -93.37599 (decimal degrees)
42°31'13" N, 93°22'34" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/469116/4707624 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Iowa Falls West
- Inventory numbers
- IA 110 (Iowa bridge number)
BH 13575 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 06/2007)
- Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 35.7 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2001)
- 2,440
Update Log
- January 3, 2009: New photos from Quinn Phelan
- December 21, 2008: Essay added by Quinn Phelan