"The bridge is a single span steel through truss with pinned connections. Each truss has five panels, each 4.90 meters (16 feet-1 inch) wide, creating a span of 24.50 meters (80.5 feet). The clear distance between trusses is 3.72 meters (12.2 feet)."The South County Line Road Bridge is typical of most bridges built in southern Michigan around the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Becasue of the relatively lightweight truss superstructure, the bridge was fabricated at a steel fabrication plant and shipped by rail near to the job site. The contractor constructed the substructure units, then assembled and erected the steel truss on-site.
"The South County Line Road Bridge is a Pratt through truss with pinned connections. The bridge has withstood it environment for many years, having been built in 1880. It has been considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places since 1992.
"HAER documentation was undertaken in November of 1995 in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement agreed to by the Montcalm County Road Commission and the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. The Memorandum of Agreement is a mitigative measure used to maintain the bridge in a different location through the sale of a transfer to an interested party, if there is one, who would use and preserve the structure. This action was successful. The Friends of the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail will take the superstructure of the bridge and place it over Fish Creek near Stanton, Montcalm County, Michigan. They will preserve and maintain the structure as a pedestrian bridge thereafter."
Robert H. Scott
Scott Civil Engineering Company
1601 McKay Tower
146 Monroe Center NW
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
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