Year constructed: 1907
Alternate name: Boone River Bridge
Bridge type: Pin-Connected Pratt Through Truss
National Register of Historic Places status: ListedÂ
Length: 207 feet
Width: 15.8 feet
Spans: 1
FHWA: 171910
Jurisdiction: Hamilton County
Location: Inkapaduta Avenue over the Boone River, 4.3 miles south of Webster City, Section 30, T88N-R25W (Independence Township)
Details
This long-span steel truss carries an unpaved county road across the Boone River in Independence Township, south of Webster City. The structure consists of a single pinned Pratt through truss supported by steel cylinder piers, with steel stringer approach spans on both ends. The history of the Albright Bridge dates to April 1907, when the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors contracted with Webster City contractor A.H. Austin to supply and build the steel truss. Austin worked on the construction throughout the remainder of the year; by early January 1908 the Albright Bridge had been completed. It has since carried vehicular traffic in essentially unaltered condition.
Roughly 175 pinned Pratt through trusses were identified during Clayton Fraser's state historic bridge inventory in the early 1990s. These ranged in span length form 64 feet to 180 feet (the average is about 110 feet), and in fabrication date between 1874 and 1937 (with the average about 1902). With a span length of 156 feet, the Albright Bridges is distinguished as one of the longest pinned Pratt trusses remaining in Iowa. It is thus an important example of this mainstay structural type [adapted from Fraser 1990].