Inclined Plane Bridge

{{Short description|Bridge in Johnstown, Pennsylvania}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox bridge | name = Inclined Plane Bridge | native_name = | native_name_lang = | official_name = | other_name = Bridge in Johnstown City | named_for =  | image = Inclined Plane Bridge.jpg | caption =  | coordinates = {{coord|40|19|33|N|78|55|33|W|display=inline,title}} | locale = Cambria, Pennsylvania, United States  | carries = SR 3022 spur | crosses = Stonycreek River | owner = | maint = PennDOT | id_type = NBI # | id = 113022001000000<ref name="nbi"/> | website = | design = | length = {{convert|72.2|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="nbi">{{Cite web |author=Federal Highway Administration |author-link=Federal Highway Administration |work=National Bridge Inventory |title=State: PA, Place Name: Johnstown, County: Cambria, NBI Structure Number: 113022001000000 |publisher=Nationalbridges.com (Alexander Svirsky) |year=2010 |access-date=June 21, 2011 |url=http://nationalbridges.com/index.php?option=com_lqm&950bb206e7ffabf8b1a8783924448b22=1&task=showResults&query=8&lqm_id=522961&&format=raw&&Itemid=2 |archive-date=May 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510090704/http://nationalbridges.com/index.php?option=com_lqm&950bb206e7ffabf8b1a8783924448b22=1&task=showResults&query=8&lqm_id=522961&&format=raw&&Itemid=2 |url-status=dead }} ''Note'': this is a formatted scrape of the 2010 official website, which can be found here for Pennsylvania: {{Cite web |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/2010/PA10.txt |title=PA10.txt |year=2010 |publisher=Federal Highway Administration |access-date=June 21, 2011 }}</ref> | width = {{convert|5.7|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="nbi"/> | height = | depth = | number_spans = | piers_in_water = | load = {{convert|5|ST|MT|lk=on}} | clearance_above = | clearance_below = | lanes = | life = | num_track = | track_gauge = | structure_gauge = | electrification = | architect = | designer = | builder = Sparks and Evans | fabricator = | begin = | built = June 1, 1891 | complete = | cost = | open = | inaugurated = | rebuilt = | destroyed = | collapsed = | closed = | replaces = | replaced_by = | traffic = | toll =  | extra = {{Infobox NRHP | name = | embed = yes | nrhp_type = | architect = | architecture = | added = June 22, 1988<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992494 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania MPS Bridge in Johnstown City|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= J. Dain Davis|date= September 1982| access-date=December 11, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref> | designated_nrhp_type = | refnum = 88000805<ref name="focus">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> | website = | mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64000726|title=Highway Bridges Owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation TR}} }} }} The '''Inclined Plane Bridge''' is a {{Convert|237|ft|adj=on}}, Pennsylvania through truss bridge that spans Stonycreek River in Johnstown, Cambria County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It connects the city to the lower station of the Johnstown Inclined Plane. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and was documented by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) in 1997.

==History== On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River, upstream of Johnstown, collapsed.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=2}} The resulting deluge devastated the city, killing over 2,000 people. As the city rebuilt, the Cambria Iron Company started work on a residential development atop Yoder Hill, overlooking the city.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=2}} To provide easy transportation across the steep slope for the residents of the new community of Westmont, as well as to function as an escape route for future floods, the company opted to construct the Johnstown Inclined Plane, a funicular. A bridge had to be built to connect Johnstown to the lower station of the incline, on the opposite side of Stonycreek River as the city.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=2}}

Work started on the bridge on June 11, 1890, with excavation of the bridge's abutments finished a week later.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=6}} By March 20, 1891, only the approach to the bridge remained to be completed. The bridge, officially, was opened on June 1, 1891, at the same time as the incline. On March 17, 1936, nearly 4,000 people crowded on the approach, the bridge, and numerous boats to escape to higher ground via the incline as Stonycreek and Conemaugh Rivers overflowed their banks.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|pp=8–9}} The floodwaters continued downstream and eventually reached Pittsburgh.

The Works Progress Administration appropriated $17,812 in October 1936 to repair the bridge's approach and replace stringers, handrails and the road deck.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=9}} The Pennsylvania Department of Highways, the predecessor to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), acquired the bridge in 1964.{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=9}} It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988.<ref name="focus"/> On September 1, 2000, PennDOT undertook a $2.3 million renovation of the bridge and the access road leading to it.{{sfn|Springirth|2006|p=118}} Work was suspended from April to September 2001, to allow operation of the incline. The renovations were completed on December 14, 2001, after PennDOT finished repairs to the bridge deck.{{sfn|Springirth|2006|p=118}}

==Design== The Inclined Plane Bridge was made from wrought iron and steel riveted together to form a Pennsylvania truss.{{sfn|Davis|1982|p=4}}{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=7}} The Pennsylvania, or Petit, truss is "essentially a Pratt truss" with the outermost horizontal girders being "polygonal" and having "subdivided panels" to "stiffen the truss under heavy loads."{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=7}} At {{Convert|237|ft}} long, the Inclined Plane Bridge is relatively short for a Pennsylvania truss; bridges of this sort are generally {{Convert|250|to|600|ft}} long.<ref name="nbi"/>{{sfn|Gruen|1997|p=7}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite web |last=Gruen |first=J. Philip |title=Inclined Plane Bridge |year=1997 |work=Historic American Engineering Record |publisher=National Park Service |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/PA3572/ |id=HAER PA-454 |access-date=January 8, 2011 }} * {{Cite book |last=Springirth |first=Kenneth C |title=Johnstown Trolleys and Incline |year=2006 |series=Images of Rail |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=0-7385-4583-X }} {{Refend}}

==External links== {{commons category|Inclined Plane Bridge}} *{{HAER |survey=PA-454 |id=pa3572 |title=Inclined Plane Bridge, Spanning Stonycreek River at State Route 3022 Spur, Johnstown, Cambria County, PA |photos=8 |data=13 |cap=1}}

Category:Bridges completed in 1891 Category:Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Category:Buildings and structures in Johnstown, Pennsylvania Category:Bridges in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Category:Pennsylvania truss bridges in the United States Category:Wrought iron bridges in the United States Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Category:1891 establishments in Pennsylvania Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Category:Steel bridges in the United States