Tucker Road Bridge, Spanning Rocky Creek at Tucker Road/Former State Route (SR) 361, Macon

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-170. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Tucker Road/Former State Route 361 over Rocky Creek in Bibb County, one mile west of the city of Macon, Georgia. Tucker Road Bridge (GDOT Bridge No. is located at latitude: longitude: The coordinate represents the approximate center of the bridge and was obtained by plotting a point on Google Earth on April 27, The coordinate s datum is North American Datum (NAD83). The location has no restriction on its release to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-170. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Tucker Road Bridge is technologically significant as one of the early remaining examples in Georgia of a bridge with a two-span continuous beam design, which was promoted by State Bridge Engineer Searcy B. Slack in the early and a timber substructure, which was popularized by State Bridge Engineer Clarence Crocker. The continuous design with a timber pile substructure was chosen because of its economy of material. The selection of cheaper materials was important in the context of the Great Depression.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-170. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

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 Bibb County, Georgia, The HAER field team consisted of David Diener (photographer) and Wesley Nimmo (historian), both with New South Associates. 1 Georgia Department of Transportation, Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer for GDOT Project Identification Number Bibb County, Georgia, Georgia State Historic Preservation Office. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 2 ) Part I. Historical Information A. Physical History 1.

Date of construction: 2. Engineer: Clarence Crocker, Georgia State Bridge Engineer at the Georgia State Highway Bridge Department. Crocker was one of the first people hired to work in the new Bridge Department when it was created in and in he was assigned the role of Assistant Bridge Design Engineer. Crocker became the State Bridge Engineer in During the Great Depression, Crocker designed bridges for the Highway Department that used cheaper materials and maximized the number of laborers, in order to be more cost efficient and create more jobs.2 3. Builder: Georgia State Highway Department. 4. Original plans and construction: No plan drawings are available of this bridge.

The earliest known photographs of the bridge date to and in these images, the bridge has its concrete railing and deck, as well as the timber pile substructure. There are fewer helper bents on the substructure in the photographs, suggesting many of these were installed during the early twenty-first century. Though there is no record of its original appearance, survey observation suggests that only a few additions have been made to the bridge. The deck has been paved over with asphalt and additional helper bents have been installed alongside the original timber pile bents in the substructure. Guardrails have also been added along the approach.

Otherwise, the bridge has retained its original three, two-span steel stringer configuration, with its timber pile substructure and concrete railing and deck. 5. Alterations and additions: The substructure of this bridge has been minimally altered. The creosote-treated timber pile bents are still present, but there has been some in-kind replacement and helper bents have also been added. 2 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts (Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Location, 50; Kristin L. Lockerman, Clarence N. Crocker and Georgia s Twentieth-Century Historic Bridges (Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia, 33, TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 3 ) B.

Historical Context: Tucker Road Bridge 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. This bridge design continued to be popular in the after Clarence Crocker became State Bridge Engineer. The timber pile substructure is representative of Crocker s focus on bridge designs that maximized the amount of manual labor, while minimizing the expensive materials and equipment.3 Clarence Crocker and the Georgia State Highway Bridge Department Tucker Road Bridge was designed and constructed by the Georgia State Highway Bridge Department, under the leadership of Crocker, Georgia s second State Bridge Engineer.

Crocker replaced Slack as the State Bridge Engineer in after Georgia s new governor, Eugene Talmage, forcefully removed a portion of the staff as part of his promise to cut the Highway Department s budget.4 Crocker, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Georgia in After graduating, Crocker worked as a civil engineer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, though the name of the company he worked for is unknown. After Georgia s State Highway Engineer, Neel, created the Georgia State Highway Bridge Department in Crocker was hired as one of only three people in the new department. In he was assigned the role of Assistant Bridge Design Engineer, working under the leadership of Searcy B.

Slack.5 Under Slack s leadership of the bridge department, which lasted from to the state s original set of bridge standards were expanded and updated to meet the rapidly changing requirements of automobiles and trucks. Roadway widths were increased from between and to between and Additionally, steel stringer, or rolled beam, bridges were accepted along with reinforced concrete as standard bridge types. Steel was becoming more readily available and affordable, and Slack reasoned that this building material 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.6 3 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 50. 4 Ibid., 50. 5 Lockerman, Clarence N. Crocker and Georgia s Twentieth-Century Historic Bridges, 27, 29, 31, 32. 6 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 47. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 4 ) In Eugene Talmadge was elected governor of Georgia.

Through the early years of the Great Depression, the federal aid highway program continued to distribute funds to state and local departments and was overall less affected by the economic downturn than other areas of funding. The Georgia Highway Department s control over federal aid made it a prime target in Talmadge s campaign, which focused on fiscal conservatism and reducing the department s spending. His campaign promises included reducing the state motor vehicle tag fee and diverting the state s gasoline tax away from road improvements and into the general treasury, to be used for paying off state and local government debts.7 In Governor Talmadge held the state highway funds from being released to the Highway Department and also ordered the highway board to fire its top engineers.

When the highway board chairman, J. W. Barnett, refused to fire the staff of the department, Governor Talmadge declared martial law and physically removed the chief engineers from their offices, including Searcy B. Slack. After Slack s removal, Clarence Crocker was made the State Bridge Engineer. Due to the reduced number of staff in the department between and the Highway Department only completed the minimum amount of work on the state s highways and bridges that was required to maintain federal aid.8 Governor Talmadge s actions were noticed by the federal government, and in President Roosevelt threatened to create a state agency to oversee Georgia s federal public works funds.

A compromise was reached between Governor Talmadge and President Roosevelt in which increased the number of engineering staff in the Highway Department. In return, Georgia was allowed to complete road and bridge projects without complying with federal laws. Following the compromise, the amount of highway improvements increased, eventually reaching pre-1933 levels.9 During the Great Depression, Crocker focused on making the Bridge Department more cost efficient while also providing more jobs to the unemployed. He reduced the amount of expensive heavy equipment and materials needed to build the bridges, and then with a portion of the saved funds, he maximized the number of laborers used in bridge construction.

Crocker continued to utilize bridge designs that Slack had developed during his tenure as State Bridge Engineer, such as the continuous and suspended-section cantilever steel stringer bridges. As part of his effort to be more cost efficient, Crocker incorporated cheaper materials, such as the timber pile substructures, into these designs.10 7 Ibid., 45 46. 8 Ibid., 46 47. 9 Ibid., 47. 10 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, 50; Lockerman, Clarence N. Crocker and Georgia s Twentieth-Century Historic Bridges, 33. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 5 ) Between and the bridge department built over four miles of bridges in Georgia, and between and more than 680 bridges were built across the state.

The most common bridge type built during the both in Georgia and across the nation, was the steel stringer bridge. During this period, more than of steel stringer bridges with timber pile substructures and concrete decks were built in Georgia. Tucker Road Bridge is one of the few remaining examples of this bridge type in the state.11 Design and Material History 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 construction option.

Stringer refers to the longitudinal beam in bridge design, which relies on the bending strength of the material to resist the load.12 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.13 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.

14 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.15 The earliest bridges built in Georgia were of timber construction and likely had timber pile bent and beam substructures.16 Wood bent substructures are typically comprised of timber piles covered in creosote, a distillate of coal tar that makes wood resistant to water and decay.

A timber cap beam is supported by the piles, and the stringers rest on top of the beams.17 Even after the introduction of steel in bridge construction in the early twentieth century, timber continued to be used as it was a cheaper material.18 The 11 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 47, 50; Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Management Plan, No Date, Georgia Department of Transportation. 12 Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, Historic Bridge Inventory Update: Historic Contexts, 63. 13 Ibid., 21. 14 Ibid., 70. 15 Ibid., 70. 16 Ibid., 7. 17 Ibid., 60 61. 18 Ibid., 43. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No.

GA-170 (Page 6 ) economy of timber made it a popular choice in bridge design during the New Deal Era as well, and many of the bridges constructed during the were steel stringer bridges with timber pile substructures.19 Following World War II, the timber reserves in the United States were depleted and it was difficult for the Georgia Highway Department to find the large and cheap timber piles they had previously used to build bridge substructures in the The increasing prices for timber and difficulty obtaining piles large enough for bridge construction led Clarence Crocker to increase the use of reinforced-concrete in bridge substructure designs in the mid-twentieth century.20 Part II. Structural/Design Information A. General Statement: 1.

Character: Tucker Road Bridge is an early example of a two-span continuous bridge that is three spans long and has a timber substructure. It is now one of the state s few remaining examples of this type of bridge construction, which was popular with the State Highway Department during the New Deal Era in Georgia. 2. Condition of fabric: The evaluation of the bridge found in the Georgia Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Management Plan listed the condition of the bridge s superstructure as fair, citing the cracked patches with corrosion staining, [the] transverse cracking with efflorescence, and [the] minor spall[ing] with exposed reinforcing steel on [the] deck[ s] underside, as well as the light pitting and minor corrosion on [the] steel beams.

21 The condition of the deck was listed as critical in that same report, due to the fact that all [the] timber pile bents [are] supplemented with helper bents. 22 B. Description: Tucker Road Bridge is a six-span steel stringer bridge. It is composed of three, two-span continuous spans. The bridge is x wide. It has concrete railings and a concrete deck, with a roadway width of The sidewalk, which consists of the area between the roadway and the curb, is only 6" wide on each side. Five timber pile bents make up the substructure. These have been reinforced by additional helper bents, which has resulted in a mix of creosote-treated and non-creosote-treated piles. Timber cap beams sit atop the pile bents, and the steel stringers rest on top of the cap beams.

There are five steel I-beams, each x that run the length of the bridge and terminate at abutments on either end.24 19 Ibid., 47, 50. 20 Ibid., 53, 57. 21 Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Management Plan. 22 Ibid. 23 A.G. Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc., Georgia Historic Bridge Survey, Bridge Form, Georgia Department of Transportation. 24 Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Management Plan. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 7 ) C. Site Information: The bridge carries a two-lane, former state highway over Rocky Creek. It is located immediately east of Interstate The surrounding area is wooded with a few modern residences and businesses.

The edges of the highway drop off into a ravine near the bridge, making the bridge significantly higher than the creek. Part III. Sources of Information A. Primary

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA-170. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Georgia Department of Transportation. Georgia Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Management Plan. Georgia Department of Transportation, Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Department of Transportation. Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Georgia State Historic Preservation Officer for GDOT Project Identification Number Bibb County, Georgia, Georgia State Historic Preservation Office, Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc., A.G. Georgia Historic Bridge Survey, Bridge Form, Georgia Department of Transportation, Atlanta, Georgia, B. Secondary 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. University of Georgia, C. Likely Sources Not Yet Investigated: The online database of project information from the Georgia Department of Transportation, which is known as GeoPI, was accessed to search for bridge plans for Tucker Road Bridge. No plans were found in the database. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 8) Part IV. Supplemental Material This material includes the location map, one historic black and white photo, and two Jcolor photos. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 9) Bibb Co.

Georgia US Rou te 4 1 te r In st ate4 Tucker Bridge Road Bridge 75 + / Tucker Road Georgia State Route 74 $ + / Project Location 0 Feet 0 500 Meters Source: USGS Macon West, Georgia Topographic Quadrangle Figure 1. Location of Tucker Road Bridge. TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 10) Figure 2. Tucker Road Bridge substructure, looking north. Source: Georgia DOT GeoPI Correspondence from Project Bibb County; PI & HP Photographic Documentation: GDOT Bridge Copied by photograph in TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 11) Figure 3. View northeast on Tucker Road, looking toward Tucker Road Bridge from the approach on the bridge s southwestern side. Photograph taken by drone, Photographer: David Diener, TUCKER ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. GA-170 (Page 12) Figure 4.

View southeast from the northwestern corner of Tucker Road Bridge. Photograph taken by drone, Photographer: David Diener,