OHIO
Concrete and stone
ARCH Bridges

Ronald Jones

This website catalogs Ohio's concrete and stone arch bridges. Bridge photographs, maps of their locations and driving directions are provided to help you explore these historic structures.  Stone bridges are the oldest and most durable bridge type. For example, some on the old National Road date to the 1820's and still carry traffic. Many concrete arches survive in both urban and rural areas of Ohio.

The list includes all concrete and stone arch bridges in Ohio judged as historically significant by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The content and organization of the arch bridges table are described on this page. Click the picture for the actual table page.

click for arch bridges table

Brecksville Bridge

Open spandrel rib arch of reinforced concrete over Cuyahoga River and B&O RR tracks. Rehabilitated in 1989.  At Cuyahoga/Summit County lines. Photo Gary Erdos 5/2008

Photo Name SFN Latitude Longitude County Location Crossing Built Type Reference Notes

How a bridge gets on the list: the table lists all reportedly extant concrete and stone arch bridges that are on the National Register of Historic Places, or graded as select or reserve status by the 2007 Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory. Non-select bridges may also be listed when historically or generally interesting or when documented in the Ohio Historic Bridge Association's, Ohio Historic Bridge Guide or in the Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory, Concrete Arch Supplement (see Bibliography).

How a bridge is identified: all bridges in use on public roads have an Ohio DOT Structure File Number (SFN). A bridge may also have a common Name. When a bridge has neither a SFN or a known name, one is composed from that of the road, crossing or locale.

How to tell the status of a bridge: the bridge entries in the table are color coded: Red = National Register of Historic Places, Blue = select, Green = reserve, and White = non-select. Bridges found to be replaced or removed after being listed are colored GRAY.

How to find a bridge: the table entries are sorted by County. The Location column gives the roadway on which the bridge is situated and the Crossing column gives the feature traversed. Bridge locations are also specified in decimal Latitude and Longitude coordinates.

How to get directions to a bridge: each entry in the Location column can be clicked to obtain a road-map showing the location of the bridge. Additionally, aerial/satellite/street views and driving directions to each bridge can be obtained through this link.

How to see a picture of a bridge: if a photograph of the bridge is available the word "Photo" appears in the left column of the row. Click this link to see a picture of the bridge.

How to get more information about a bridge: additional information about a bridge may be provided in the Reference column. For example, when a bridge has been documented by the Historic American Engineering Record the Reference listed is “HAER”, which serves as a link to extensive documentation of the bridge. The bibliography contains other sources of information about some of the bridges.

 

Arch Bridges Map: an Ohio map pinpointing the locations of all the listed concrete and stone arch bridges (downloadable).

Many bridges are missing photos and some bridges may have been replaced or removed. Help this effort by visiting some of these bridges using the driving directions provided and share your pictures and findings.  Send email to the webmaster. I'll be sure to recognize your contribution.
 

Visit oldohiobridges to see a catalog of Ohio's historic iron and old steel truss bridges. Bridge photographs, maps of their locations and driving directions are provided.

Bibliography

The Ohio Bridge Inventory - 2006 (OBI), Inventory of all public bridges in Ohio. An EXCEL spreadsheet copy is available here (large).

National Bridge Inventory Database (NBI), Alexander Svirsky. Online searchable bridge inventory derived from the Federal Highway Administration 2006 database of all US bridges on public roads. To conduct a bridge search click here.

The 2005 Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory. This is essentially the OBI with the addition of evaluations of the historical significance of each bridge.

The 2007 Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory. The latest historic bridge inventory includes historical evaluations of more recent bridges.  An EXCEL spreadsheet copy can be obtained here.

Bridges &  Byways, Journal of the Ohio Historic Bridge Association (OHBA), edited by Miriam Wood. Further information about this journal may be obtained here.

The Second Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory, Evaluation and Preservation Plan, The Concrete Arch Supplement. Published in 1994 by Ohio DOT. A PDF copy may be obtained here.

Ohio Historic Bridge Guide (OHBG), Bill Helsel, David Simmons and Miriam Wood. Published by the Ohio Historic Bridge Association (OHBA). Seventh Edition 1999/2000. This booklet can be obtained here.

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Copyright © 2008 text and pictures (except as noted) Ronald Jones.  Best viewed with Internet Explorer 6.0+, Firefox does not display some pages as intended but may be usable. If using a screen size of 1024 X 768 or less to view the maps press F11 to toggle a change in the usable screen area or if possible increase your screen resolution. This website is a service of OldOhioBridges. Send comments and report problems to the webmaster.

 Last update: 01/13/2011