The Keeseville Stone Arch Bridge - Essay Example

The Keeseville Stone Arch Bridge The Keeseville district’s three historic bridges are among the most significant highlights for the region. The bridge is among the United States most old stone arch bridges that have serve up to today. The bride is located above the Ausable River within the Adirondack area New York state. Currently, the stone arch bridge does stand as a masterpiece for exclusively intact historic region along the main as well as front streets. The Keeseville Stone Arch Bridge People have come up with constructions that assist in living by making life more easier to live. Since pre- history, many constructions have been done, which include buildings as well as other structures like bridges, dams, amphitheaters, canals and roads. Materials for building and construction that in use presently have some long history while certain structures constructed many years in the past are considered remarkable even today. In order for one to gain an understanding of why structures have been constructed in the manner in which were in the old age, it happens to be vital to look into the human activities within the past. Basically, this may be done done by way of recovery as well as analysis of material, culture as well as data of the environment, which has been left behind. There are several trends that mark construction history basically in the part of materials used. At first the materials were perishable, for instance grass hides. There then came more durable natural materials like timber, stone, clay, stone then event rely synthetic materials were introduced, for instance, brick, metallic, concrete as well as plastics. Old constructions that stand firm up to this day represent a great deal of culture and history and are regarded as significant historical sites apart from the services they offer. Keeseville stone arch bridge is a good example of such structures. Despite the significant services offered by the structure, is quite important in the heart of Keeseville region representing the past of the district. Location of the Bridge The upper bridge has been located within Keeseville village, where there lives a rural community and the village is located at the northeastern area of Adirondack Park. This bridge runs across the Ausable River that gets waters from the high peaks of Adirondack and flows around 5 miles down from Keeseville to lake Champlain. The stretch happens to be particularly beautiful for the river while it happens to be quite popular for recreation as well as fishing. Ausable River happens to be among the Wild as well as Scenic river system of New York State. This river happens to have a population of two thousand people. It is a significant commercial as well as residential settlement within the Ausable River Valley lower art ( Region 7, 2). This bridge happens to be part of the Keeseville’s state register historic district that has one hundred and twenty five civic as well as commercial structures. The historical architecture of the village, together with the one for Ausable River happens to be one among its key aspects. Keeseville includes six churches, a number of schools, rows of 2 story brick commercial blocks, dozens of houses, a library, as well as a grange hall. All these have been done in various architectural styles that include Queen Anne, Greek revival, Italianate as well as Colonial revival. During the year 1996, some thoroughly wide wake tiny village was printed to direct visitors the Keeseville’s historic region. The three historic bridges happen to part of the district’s significant highlights. The location of the bridge is within as well as at an intersection for 2 scenic Byways- lakes to lock road, a federally designated By road (New York State Root 22) and Olympic path (New York State 9N), as designated byway for the New York State. In spite of its comparatively country side location, Keeseville as well as the upper bridge happen to be highly accessible towards a number of regional population centers, which include the Plattsburgh (fifteen mil by road) as well as the Burlington, Vermont (ten mile by ferry). Keeseville happens to be as well at an interconnection of a number of key roads through the area, which include New York State Routes 9, 9n as well as 22 and the interstate 87 while the upper bridge happens to be within 500’ for routes 9, 9N and in a mile of interstate 87 ( Region 7, 4). Fig: Stone Arch Bridge - Keeseville, New York – (Arch Bridges on Waymarking. Com)  Culture and Society A bridge crossing the Ausable River has been in existence within this locality since early 1840’s, a time when Keeseville used to be a flourished industrial as well as a commercial center. The bridge has provided critical transportation connection between the village’s two halves. The historic bridges of the village together with the many historic structures of the nineteenth century as well as the early twentieth century, which are in existence all through he Keeseville village, do reveal the community’s rich industrial as well as the architectural heritage. This culture was common throughout America during the 1800s not only in Keeseville. Bridges have been in use broadly since ancient time not only in America. It was introduced by colonies from Europe whom came to America and built roads as well as bridges with them. Early colonists built bridges made of purely wood. Towards the later years of the century, construction o bridges had been improved and steel, concrete and iron were te materials in use (Needham Public Schools). There was growing demand of bridges for railroads where bridges were built even in difficult places. In the year 1867, James Eads got commissioned to construct a bridge spanning river Mississippi. Due to the fact that the supports of the bridge were built within the bedrock, underneath the bottom of the sandy river, men had to dig in airtight capsules at up to 100 feet depths. In the year 1898, the arch bridge crossing eight hundred and forty feet was built below the falls of Niagara. Teel was the main material used for construction here. Approaching the centuries end, steel construction were combined with concrete to strengthen bridge. 1898 happens to be the year when the first concrete strengthened bridge got completed. Among the largest United States happens to be the Tunkasnnock Creek Viaduct within Pennsylvania, which crosses two thousand, three hundred and seventy five feet. With railroad expansion, a different bridge type became important. This happens to be the Cantilever bridge. The complex design of this bridge made it possible for it to support unbelievable weights to the extend of trains with the weights of a number of tones. Such an advancement made a faster development of railroad construction (Needham Public Schools). The culture in the United States included industrialization, which in turn called for transpoeration hence rail roads construction was a main activity in the 1800s. bridges were necessary for constructions of railroads so definitely bridge construction was brought about by railroad constructions. Other form of transportation was quite necessary as well bridges had too be built across rivers to facilitate transportation of goods as well as people. The Keeseville Stone Arch Bridge is among the bridges constructed the 1800s to facilitate transportation for people and goods across River Ausiable in the Keeseville district of New York State. The Bridge Construction The Keeseville Stone Arch Bridge, which is a 110-foot sandstone arch bridge. Immediately upstream happens to be the Swing Bridge, a rare suspension, which was erected later in 1888 and it is among the few suspension foot bridges having been built by Berlin Iron Ridge Company. A half a mile upstream happens to be the unique Dougal – built pin connected Pratt truss bridge, which is ornamented richly “catalogue bridge.” The three bridges do represent three separate engineering solutions, and they happen to be quite unique in Adirondack area of New York in the United States. A crossing was quite necessary within this specific location because of the regions commercial as well as industrial doings around the dam as well as nail works here. The 1st span happened to be a chain of 4 wooden Queen post binds, which were erected in the 1940s, however, they got washed away in the year 1856. In the year 1857, one span, a Howe Truss made of wood, covered bridge of two hundred and fourteen feet in length got erected. During the 1875 winter, under the weight of a 3-foot snowfall as well as the strong winds, the bridge collapsed once more.in replacement of the bridge, the municipality made a decision to put a pier within the river, as well as erect 2 short length metallic truss spans. Murray, Dougal & co. from Milton, Pennsylvania were chosen to construct the bridge. The company made a proposal and constructed a cast as well as wrought iron, 2- span, Pratt complete truss, which was two hundred and eighteen feet length. It was done at a cost of three thousand five hundred United States dollars. This bridge gave services to the local community for over a thousand years and acted an option for vehicles that need to avoid traffic within the village center. In the year 1985, this bridge, being part of Keeseville historic district, got placed on National Register of Historic Places. During the year 1987, the upper bridge got documented by Historic American Engineering Record. The HAER has the responsibility for documenting the unresolved instances of the industrial as well as engineering heritages of America, and for the education to the public on extraordinary accomplishments of engineers as well as entrepreneurs established in bridges as well as other engineering as well as industrial design works. In the year 1987, the upper bridge got selected to be a landmark for national historic civil engineering by American Society for Civil Engineers. The dedication ceremony held in October 3rd was attended by important dignitaries whom included elected officials, Richard Sanders Allen the pre-eminent historian f bridges, the honor guard for Keeseville fire Department, as well as the chief of HER Eric Delony. In the year 1988, the New York State Department for transport (NYSDOT) “red flagged” the bridge and the Assex County who managed the bridge jointly with Clinton County, closed it. The key issue with the bridge this time was the steel triggers as well as flow beams’ conditions. By way of combined efforts by these counties as well as the Keeseville village, by use of discretionary CDBG/HUD funding from the locality, rehabilitation of the bridge was done then the bridge was reopened for only light traffic. In the year 2004, the bridge got red flagged once more by the Transportation Inspectors of the New York State Department. Responding to a broad support from the public to reopen the bridge, in the year 2006, load rating as well as study of conditions for the bridge was made to order by Essex County. Schouder Rivers association did the study, which they completed in the year 2007. Some additional assessment work was done in the year 2008 with Ryan- Biggs and associates engineers, whereby a scope of work as well as a budget got developed for a proposed project for rehabilitation (United States Department of Transportation, 4). According t the rehabilitation report, this rehabilitation did not require to change any alignment or width of the roadway, hence there was no anticipation for acquisition of property. The rehabilitation was aimed at these components: Abutment pier as well as wing balls were repaired. Truss Rehabilitation- deficient or damaged parts of iron trusses were repaired through straitening as well as welding or replacement using in- kind components. The plan replaced pins that possessed structural deficient capacity. Replacement members were steel and were selected as well as sized for the increment of the load baring capacity for the existing system structure to the greatest possible extend. However, there were no any changes made with regard to the bridge’s significant appearance and no necessarily no elements of historical significance were done away with (United States Department of Transportation, 3). Bearings and plates- bridge seats at every abutment as well as pier were removed as well as reconstructed with existing trusses being provided with new bearings. Floor structure as well as deck- there was replacement of the steel grate deck, floor beams, stringers, as well as U-bolts. The replacement was in-kind using steel material of higher strength, which improved the load carrying capacity of the bridge. All the new structural steel had been provided with shop-applied paint system. The bridge was installed with new laminate wooden deck system with some pedestrian side walk on one side as well as a historically suitable bridge railing (United States Department of Transportation, 3). Painting- the whole existing paint system was removed upon the extraordinary Pratt trusses by use of class A containment system. The rehabilitated trusses were repainted. Approaches towards the bridge- the approach roadways towards the bridge were reconstructed using new guide railings as well as a drainage system was installed. The drainage system does direct surface run-off away from the abutments of the bridge as well assist in the prevention of erosion of approach embankments. Traffic signage as well as controls- along each approach, stop signs were installed for the control of reversible single traffic lane. Oher regulatory signage was provided as well as an independent devices for limitation of freestanding vehicle height. Interpretive signs- interpretive signs were furnished as well as installed that detail historic as well as the engineering importance of this bridge and the sites historic context (United States Department of Transportation, 4). If the bridge was Constructed Today As seen earlier, since the construction of the Keeseville arch stone bridge, it has gone through several repair as well as rehabilitation plans to standardize it to the required state as technology improves and times goes by. This explains how much it would have been different if the bridge would have been constructed this day. Construction of bridges today has become very sophisticated. This is a different time from when construction of a bridge was a matter of the supports underneath the bridge. There is more into bridge construction. If the Keeseville Bridge was to be constructed today, there are a lot of things that it could comprise of as well as technologies quite different as well as very advanced would be put into practice in its construction. First of all, there would be as much traffic that would be travelling underneath the bridge just as on it. This could be internet traffic through copper or even fiber optic lines of telecommunication may be running underneath the bridge. Additional utilities, for instance, electricity for the lighting of the bridge, as well as sewers for the bridge’s drainage, not forgetting natural gas as well as water lines may as well be running below the pavement of the bridge. Installation of such lines as well as their subsidiary apparatus and their inspection as well as maintenance could need some work platform that are reliable, to obtain access (Kendall). In accordance with Federal Highway Administration, most bridges within the country are not efficient. The figure they have given for this is one hundred and forty seven thousand, eight hundred and seventy bridges out of a total of six hundred and seven thousand, seven hundred and fifty one bridges. Of these deficient ones, sixty three thousand, five hundred and twenty two are deficient while eighty four thousand, seven hundred and fifty one bridges are functionally absolute. Bridges that are deficient structurally are the ones that have critical load carrying elements caused by continuous deterioration and damage. On the other hand, those that are functionally absolute do not any more meet the present day standards for construction of bridges, for instance lane width or lane capacity. The Keeseville Bridge has had such problems and thus the reason for continuous repairs and rehabilitation to standardize it. If this bridge was constructed today, then it would meet standards that required in the present day world. With almost a quarter of the bridges within the country having been labeled deficient, states have accelerated programs for construction of bridges, for the reduction of the functionally absolute bridges as well as functionally deficient bridges that are being maintained. Accelerated construction of bridges includes utilizing innovative engineering, construction methods as well as material for delivering cost effective solutions for improvement of project delivery times as well as safety of work zone as they reduce traffic impacts as well as onsite construction time at the same time. This approach would be applied if the Keeseville stone arch bridge were constructed this day. It would have been built on a bridge in a backup system approach, which was established at University of Maine’s Progressive structures as well as composites center. The approach makes use of composite material, particularly the carbon fiber strengthened polymer composite tubes for the formation of arch spans. The carbon fiber tubes are corrosion resistive and provide external strengthening while they strength as well as toughness to the superstructure made of concrete (Kendall). The composite tubes have been planned to be rolled up as well as well as stuffed within duffel bags so that they can be easy transported making the construction work easier. While on the construction site, these tubes may be rolled out, inflated, then set within a frame, which will bed inti an arc. Once the tubes have been shaped into the needed geometry they are then infused with resin by use of a process of vacuum assisted transfer molding and then allowed to cure. After curing, the arches, which are of lightweight, are positioned into the abutments then covered using corrugated fiber reinforced polymer decking panels. These arches then get embedded within the concrete foundation with the arch tubes being filled with expansive concrete. The headwalls get installed then dirt fill is compacted above FIBER REINFORCE POLYMER DECKING as well as paved over using asphalt. The construction of the Keeseville bridge using this technology of today would take just a few days to completion. High performance concrete intensifies span’s strength such the engineers are able to design a bridge in the absence of intermediate supports. Much longer spans would reduce the requirement of piers, something that would reduce the effect on plants, fish as well as other aquatic organisms. If the Keeseville bridge were to be constructed today, higher volumes of traffic as well as increasing concerns of safety would contribute towards deck width increase. The bridge would in the future carry much heavy loads as well as more traffic. More lanes as well as a wider bridge would facilitate accommodation of increased traffic, while broader shoulders would make it more safe for a motorist to change flat tires or even easier handling of emergencies for response teams (Kendall). If the Keeseville Bridge were constructed today, it would be constructed in the following proposed goals of performance: Achieving some service life, which no longer is under the control of corrosion as well as needs little or even no maintenance for the structure. Significantly reduced construction time Designing a bridge , which may be easily widened to adapt to demands of traffic Reduced life-cycle costs quite significantly Increased immunity to earthquakes, floods, attacks fracture, wind, corrosion, collisions and overloads Integrating design as well as construction of superstructure and substructure, and Eliminating lateral and vertical clearance problems A wider acceptance as well as implementation of today’s best practices in in bridge construction might assist in obtaining a number of the above mentioned performance goals. Bibliography Kendall, Jones. Bridge In A Backpack Technology Aims To Revolutionize Bridge Construction. 2014. http://constructiondatacompany.com/bridge-backpack-technology-aims-revolutionize-bridge-construction/. 25 4 2015. Needham Public Schools. Bridges. 2015. http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/sintros2/DE_KC/bridge.html. 25 4 2015. Region 7. "Rehabilitation of the." Excellence in Engineering (2001): 4. https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/design/dqab/css/repository/2001r07.pdf. United States Department of Transportation. "Rehabilitation of the Upper Bridge, Keeseville, New York." Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Application (2001): 18. https://www.dot.ny.gov/recovery/sponsors/tiger/repository/74CDA1D23A4D90B2E0430A3DFC0390B2 Read More