The Fort Gordon railroad bridge is significant for its associations with Fort Gordon as an example of rail infrastructure designed to support its military missions from through the Description: The Fort Gordon railroad bridge is located .75 miles southwest of Fort Gordon Gate 2, crossing over U.S. Highway roughly halfway between Augusta and Harlem, Georgia. The rural highway, commonly known as the Gordon Highway, runs roughly east-west along the western boundary of Fort Gordon and serves as access for two entry points to the installation.3 The railroad bridge is located on a dedicated rail spur that serviced a complex of warehouses near the installation s Gate 2 (Figures 1 and 2). The immediate area around the bridge has changed little since its initial construction ca.
with the exception of the addition of the Augusta State Medical Prison, a large complex constructed in immediately to the northeast of the bridge.4 Across the tracks to the northwest is a heavily wooded area, primarily pine forest. The rail spur curves to the north, joining the CSX Transportation mainline that runs 171 miles east-west between Atlanta and Augusta.5 To the south, the rail spur immediately enters Fort Gordon and quickly terminates into an overgrown rail yard that once served a complex of storage warehouses for inert materiel. The warehouses have since been demolished (Figure 3). To the southwest of the rail yard is a heavily wooded area of Fort Gordon that borders Highway 78.
The Fort Gordon Railroad Bridge spans a total 169 - 0 (Figures 4 and 5) over Highway with a clearance of 15 -5 . Wooden trestles were constructed for the approaches and reinforced concrete piers were built circa to support the superstructure, originally constructed in by the Edge Moor Bridge Works of Wilmington, Delaware for the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. The superstructure consists of a 94 x 12 , six-panel steel Warren pony truss, with verticals that serve as a center span over Highway (Figure 4). The 12-foot-high steel truss bridge features riveted connections and lattice bracing at all diagonals and verticals. There is a pinned connection at each end to the concrete piers. 3 Wikipedia. Gordon Highway. 4 Wikipedia. Augusta State Medical Prison. 5 Wikipedia.
Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. FORT GORDON RAILROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-165 (Page 3) A cast iron plaque, removed at an unknown date, was attached to the bridge and read:6 Built by Edge Moor Bridge Works Wilmington, DEL The substructure consists of two massive tapered reinforced-concrete piers that support the steel Warren pony truss (Figure 7). The northwest Pier #1 has a 10 -1 x 26 -7 inch base with an 18 -1 pier that has a slope that rises 18 -6 inches to a 5 -5 x 22 x 1 - 6 cap with chamfered corners. The southeast Pier #2 has a 9 -11 x 26 -5 base with a 17 -6 pier that has a slope that rises 9 - 6 to a 5 -6 x 22 x 1 -6 reinforced concrete cap with chamfered corners. An 11 -6 x 15 reinforced concrete abutment is tied into both pier caps at each end.
Another element of the substructure are the two wooden trestles leading to the bridge from each direction. The approaches are composed of three four- pile timber bent wood trusses spaced approximately 12 on center that extend 37 -6 on each side of the center span of the bridge (Figure 6). They vary in height from 4 to 18 as they reach the grade at both ends. Over time, the grade around the timbers has risen, decreasing the amount of the truss that is visible. Bridge inspections were conducted by the Army in and Overall, the bridge was found to be in fair condition. Vegetative overgrowth envelops the bridge at both ends.
Many of the railroad ties had rotted and recommendations were implemented to remove them and the rails over the bridge section, due to safety issues from falling debris on the roadway below. Major defects were noted in both concrete piers, primarily from spalling and exposure of rebar as well as corrosion on all members8. History: Establishing Camp Gordon and the Initial Construction of the Bridge Georgia established many war-training camps during World War I. Chamblee, northeast of Atlanta, was selected for one of the state's largest army cantonments. It was named Camp Gordon in honor of John Brown Gordon a major general in the Confederate army, a Georgia 6 U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center, Bridge Inspection Report. 7 U.S.
Army Engineering Research and Development Center, Bridge Inspection Report. 8 Ibid. FORT GORDON RAILROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-165 (Page 4) governor and U.S. senator.9 The camp opened in July and was decommissioned after the war.10 Camp Gordon was approved for reconstruction on a new training area approximately nine miles southwest from Augusta along U.S. Highway 78. Although facilities were incomplete, in December the 4th Division arrived at Camp Gordon for combat training from Fort Benning, Georgia. The design of the cantonment followed the standard U.S. Army Quartermaster plans of a large parade field surrounded by World War II temporary wood-frame buildings.
The cantonment, located in the northeastern portion of the installation, was separated into distinct areas: the administrative/community area on the eastern edge of the parade field, the station hospital area in the northeastern part, barracks compounds to the north and south of the parade field, recreational facilities on the western edge of the parade field, and a warehouse supply area for inert materiel on the far west separated from the main cantonment by McCoy s Creek (Figure 1). The warehouse supply area was designed by the Army Quartermaster as a series of wood-framed warehouses within a rail yard to be connected by a dedicated rail spur.
The spur connected to the Georgia Railroad mainline that ran 171 miles from Atlanta to Augusta.11 The warehouses stored supplies and inert materiel for the operation of Camp Gordon (Figures 2 and 3). The Camp Gordon rail spur required an overhead rail crossing to be constructed as it crossed U.S. Highway 78. The highway also ran east-west from Atlanta to Augusta, roughly parallel to the rail line that serviced both cities. For the overhead highway crossing, the Army acquired a six-panel Warren pony truss with verticals fabricated by the Edge Moor Bridge Works of Wilmington, Delaware in Incorporated in Edge Moor Bridge Works engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel bridges at a plant located on the Delaware River north of Wilmington.
By the firm was in financial difficulty, and in it sold its bridge works to the newly- organized American Bridge Company, which in turn became a subsidiary 9 The New Georgia Encyclopedia, John Brown Gordon. 10 The New Georgia Encyclopedia, World War I in Georgia: Federal Installations and War Camps. 11 Wikipedia. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. 12 J.B McCrary engineering drawing on file at the Fort Gordon Department of Public Works. FORT GORDON RAILROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-165 (Page 5) of U.S.
Steel in Edge Moor was a minor plant for American Bridge and was finally closed in The Warren pony truss with verticals was originally fabricated for use by the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company at an unknown location.14 The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company was chartered in Augusta, Georgia in with the charter amended in to include banking. By the mainline between Augusta and Decatur was complete and regular freight and passenger service began.
The first stop from Augusta was Belair at Mile Point a quarter of a mile east of the junction of the rail spur to Camp Gordon (Figure The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company ran under its original charter until and in it became a part of CSX Transportation and the Georgia Railroad Bank became part of First Union Corporation.16 A Warren truss consists of longitudinal members joined only by angled cross-members, forming alternately inverted equilateral triangle-shaped spaces along its length. The variant of the Warren truss used at Fort Gordon has additional vertical members within the triangles used to stabilize horizontal members against buckling.
The Fort Gordon Bridge is a pony truss - a bridge which allows traffic through the truss, but the top of the bridge is not joined together with cross braces. Reuse of the bridge at Camp Gordon required construction of a substructure consisting of timber bent trestles for the approaches and tapered reinforced concrete piers to support the bridge (Figures 6, 7 and 8). Design of the substructure was by the Augusta office of the McCrary Engineering Corporation and constructed by the Construction Division of the U.S. Army Quartermaster General.
The McCrary Engineering Corporation was founded in by Joseph Boyd McCrary McCrary, a Georgia Tech graduate, designed public improvements in 155 out of 159 Georgia counties in his professional career.17 Construction of the entire rail spur and yard in the warehouse area was complete by June and the wood-frame warehouses were complete by the end of the year.18 13 Delaware Department of Transportation. p. 14 J.B McCrary engineering drawing on file at the Fort Gordon Department of Public Works . 15 Hanson, Robert H. p. 47. 16 Griggs, Frank. p. 44. 17 Atlanta Constitution. October 29, 18 Fort Gordon Real Property Records. FORT GORDON RAILROAD BRIDGE HAER No.
GA-165 (Page 6) Fort Gordon: Post World War II to Vietnam Camp Gordon was home to three divisions during World War II: the 4th Infantry, the Infantry, and the Armored. From October to January Camp Gordon served as an internment camp for foreign prisoners of war. From May until April the U.S. Army Personnel and Separation Center processed nearly personnel for discharge from the Army.19 On 21 March Camp Gordon became a permanent Army post and was re-designated as Fort Gordon. The original layout of the World War II era cantonment remained essentially intact until the mid-1960s. The warehouse area continued to function in the movement and storage of installation supplies arriving by rail.
The end of the Vietnam War brought changes to Fort Gordon and a decrease in the need to move materiel by rail. At an unknown time in the the rail spur into Fort Gordon ceased to be used and slowly fell into disrepair over time. The last of the warehouses were demolished in and in and the bridge is scheduled to be removed as part of a planned widening of US
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