Cantilevered Warren through Truss Bridge (riveted)

A few weeks ago I traveled to Kentucky for an inspection of a riveted Cantilevered Warren through truss bridge. The truss was built in 1930 and rehabilitated in 1986. The bridge is in good condition and I was surprised since I am use to the corrosion in New England.

The bridge has a total length of 2,277.3 feet with the main span over the Ohio River spanning 738.7 feet. The deck has a width of 22 feet and carries 12th Street one way traffic southbound.

It was my first experience with news crews being interested in an inspection, sure enough we made it onto the new that evening with video of our lane closure before we asked them to kindly leave our traffic pattern.

Using limited equipment the majority of the inspection was done using rope access or free climbing. The vertical members were inspected by rope with drops up to 115 feet. The top chord was inspected using a simple flip line and always remaining 100% tied off. The chord consists of built up riveted members and eye bars with pinned connections.

Besides areas of minor corrosion and minor impact damage the most sever deficiencies were areas of pack rust between gusset plates and pins.