Georgia DOT Bridge No. 167-0007-0, U.S. Highway 80/State Route 26 spanning the Ohoopee River, Adrian

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-169. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) Bridge No. (William H. Brantley Jr. Bridge) is located on US Highway 80/State Route 26 spanning the Ohoopee River, on the boundary line between Johnson and Emanuel counties, approximately one mile northeast of the town of Adrian, Georgia. The bridge is located at latitude: longitude: The coordinate represents the approximate center of the bridge, both by width and length. This coordinate was obtained by plotting a point on Google Earth on January 28, The UTM coordinates were then converted to decimal degrees using North American Datum (NAD83). The location has no restriction on its release to the public. Date of construction: Georgia DOT Bridge No. was built in Engineer/Builder: Georgia DOT Bridge No.

was designed and constructed by the Georgia State Highway Bridge Division, under the leadership of Searcy B. Slack, Georgia s first State Bridge Engineer. Slack was selected in by Neel, State Highway Engineer, to head up the new bridge division and carry out the task of promoting the construction of river-spanning bridges throughout the state. Original Owner/Use: The Georgia State Highway Department. Georgia DOT Bridge No. served/serves as the crossing over the Ohoopee River on US Highway 26. Present Owner/Use: Georgia DOT. Georgia DOT Bridge No. served/serves as the crossing over the Ohoopee River on US Highway 26.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-169. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Georgia DOT Bridge No. is technologically significant as one of the five oldest continuous steel stringer bridges identified in the Georgia Historic Bridge Survey. The State Highway Bridge Department, under the leadership of Searcy B. Slack, was a national leader in the introduction of this economical continuous span design technology. This bridge conveys the application of that design to replace a narrow first-generation state highway bridge that had 1 A.G. Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc., "Georgia Historic Bridge Survey, Bridge Form, (Georgia Department of Transportation, GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 2 ) become obsolete because of larger and faster traffic.

Additionally, the bridge is significant as a component of the historic Dixie Overland Highway, a coast-to-coast tourist trail between Savannah, Georgia and San Diego, California begun in and improved in Description: Georgia DOT Bridge No. is a 30-span steel stringer bridge composed of 15, two-span continuous spans. 3 It is x It has concrete railings, deck, and diaphragms. The bridge is built on the 2-column concrete bents of the concrete slab bridge that it replaced. The bents were raised and widened by additions to the caps.4 Two additional concrete bents were built, so that four columns and concrete bent cap support each span junction. There are six steel I-beams that run the length of the bridge and end at abutments on either end.

The bridge carries a two-lane state highway over the Ohoopee River, which is the border between Johnson and Emanuel counties. The setting is rural, and the highway is tree lined. The area has scattered modern residences, mostly trailer homes. History: In the State Highway Department took over SR 26 (Dublin- Savannah Road) as part of the original state highway system. The highway was the route of the Overland Dixie Highway tourist trail. In the department graded, top-soiled the road, and built a series of ten bridges, including the predecessor of Georgia DOT Bridge No. In the route was upgraded to a concrete surface highway with longer and wider bridges.5 Georgia DOT Bridge No.

was built during this later campaign and is an example of a multi-span steel stringer bridge, the result of a standardized bridge plan that was developed by the Georgia bridge department under the leadership of Searcy B. Slack. Steel was first used in bridge construction with truss bridges, but as the technology of rolling mills and metallurgy advanced after World War I, stringer bridges using rolled steel beams emerged as a construction option. Stringer refers to the longitudinal beam in bridge design, which relies on the bending strength of the material to 2 Georgia Department of Transportation, Assessment of Effects: GDOT Project ID NO. Emanuel and Johnson Counties, HP NO. Finding of Adverse Effect to Dixie Overland Highway and GDOT Bridge No.

(Atlanta, GA: Georgia Department of Transportation, March 21, 3 Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc., Georgia Historic Bridge Survey, Bridge Form, 4 Ibid. 5 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 45. GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 3 ) resist the load.6 Steel stringer bridges gained popularity in the as the cost of steel became more competitive. Additionally, steel could be more easily modified than reinforced concrete, should the bridge need to be widened, or even relocated. Rolled steel I-beam persisted as the dominant bridge technology, along with the reinforced concrete T-beam, until the start of the interstate highway program in when new technologies, like prestressed concrete, emerged. Searcy B.

Slack, originally from LaGrange, Georgia, earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Georgia in and his Master of Science from Harvard the next year. Before joining the highway department, he worked as the city engineer for LaGrange, a Troup County surveyor, a U.S. Army Engineer, and as a consultant for the firm of Garrett and Slack, where he consulted in some of the highway department s first federal-aid bridge projects in Neel recognized the importance of permanent bridges to span rivers and connect Georgia s roads. These permanent bridges were to be built of lasting and easily available materials like reinforced concrete, and would take the form of T-beam, slab, and arch constructions.

When Neel created the Georgia State Highway Bridge Division in he chose Slack to oversee this essential work. Slack inherited an overwhelming number of outdated, temporary, and wooden bridges that would not accommodate the new requirements of the increasingly popular motor vehicle. He immediately began building as many reinforced concrete bridges as possible with two desired outcomes: first, to help contractors become proficient in the technology and second, because Slack believed it would result in higher quality work and more reasonable bids.

Many of these early concrete bridges were built to standard designs, especially slab and T- beam bridges less than 50' long.8 Through the promotion of standardized design and use of reinforced concrete, Slack oversaw the construction of 217 bridges by the close of 6 Ibid., 62. 7 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts (Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Location, 44. 8 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 44. 9 Kristin L. Lockerman, Clarence N. Crocker and Georgia s Twentieth-Century Historic Bridges (Master Thesis, University of Georgia, 23. GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No.

GA-169 (Page 4 ) Between and Georgia constructed a total of 23 miles of bridges, 19 percent of the length of all federal-aid bridges built at that time and became a nationally recognized leader in low-cost, efficient bridge construction.10 One reason for the that statistic was that Neel allocated a large portion of the highway department s federal aid to bridge construction. A second reason was that Slack emphasized replacing the low-water bridges and ferry crossings in the numerous low-lying areas of the state with longer and higher bridges that crossed over stream and floodplain, keeping roads passable even during high water periods.

Under Slack s leadership of the bridge division, which lasted from to the state s original set of bridge standards were expanded and updated to meet the requirements of automobiles and trucks. Roadway widths were increased from between 16' and 18' to between 20' and Additionally, steel stringer, or rolled beam, bridges were accepted along with reinforced concrete as standard bridge types. Like concrete, steel was becoming more readily available and affordable, and Slack reasoned that they would be easier to modify if the need arose. Slack promoted the design of lengthy multi-span bridges that were economical to build by minimizing both construction and material costs.

Slack was foremost concerned with economy, and favored a functional, unadorned aesthetic and through his leadership, Georgia rose to the forefront of standardized continuous-span bridge design.11 Under Slack, the bridge division adopted a standard design two-span continuous steel stringer model in which proved so successful that it was the most commonly built state highway bridge by Continuous spans have uninterrupted members over one or more piers and are supported at the beam ends by abutments.

12 This method has the economic advantage of spanning greater lengths with smaller section beams and reducing the number of necessary expansion joints in the reinforced concrete deck, which is a primary source of bridge deterioration.13 According to the Historic Bridge Inventory Update, Georgia DOT Bridge No. is one of the two earliest examples of standard continuous design bridges in Georgia.14 10 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 45. 11 Ibid., 47. 12 Ibid., 70. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., 71. GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 5 )

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-169. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Georgia Department of Transportation. Assessment of Effects: GDOT Project ID NO. Emanuel and Johnson Counties, HP NO. Finding of Adverse Effect to Dixie Overland Highway and GDOT Bridge No. Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Department of Transportation, March 21, Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer for GDOT Project Identification Number Emanuel and Jonson Counties, Georgia, Georgia State Historic Preservation Office, Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc., A.G. Georgia Historic Bridge Survey, Bridge Form, Georgia Department of Transportation, Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers. Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts.

Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Location, Lockerman, Kristin L. Clarence N. Crocker and Georgia s Twentieth-Century Historic Bridges. Master Thesis, University of Georgia,

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-169. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) is a long-range program that documents and interprets historically significant engineering sites and structures throughout the United States. HAER is part of Heritage Documentation Programs, a division of the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. This project was undertaken to comply with Stipulation 1 of Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer for GDOT Project Identification Number Emanuel and Johnson Counties, Georgia, The field team consisted of David Diener (photographer) and Terri Gillett (historian), both with New South Associates.

15 Georgia Department of Transportation, Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer for GDOT Project Identification Number Emanuel and Jonson Counties, Georgia, (Georgia State Historic Preservation Office, GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 6) Supplemental Material: This material includes the location map and one color photo. GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 7) Johnson Emanuel o nc ti onju eC ope Oho d nR Oh oo pe e R Rd Me i v ek s e r West S t West S t + / Georgia DOT Bridge No. Hi g h 80 way US + / Project Location $ Main 0 500 Feet St 0 100 200 300 Meters Source: USGS Adrian, Georgia Topographic Quadrangle Figure 1. Location of Georgia DOT Bridge No.

GEORGIA DOT BRIDGE NO. HAER No. GA-169 (Page 8) Figure 2. View north from the southeastern corner of Georgia DOT Bridge No. Photographer: Terri Gillett,