River Street Bridge (Marble Rock, Iowa)
Thousands of small concrete deck girder bridges subsequently have been built throughout Iowa following the design standard set by the Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC) in 1913. The River Street Bridge and only a few others preceded that standard, only a few of which remain in use, while the River Street Bridge has carried traffic with no significant change to the bridge up to the 1994 date of its National Register of Historic Places nomination. The nomination in part reads:
Of these pre-ISHC bridges - and among all of Iowa's deck girders, actually - the River Street Bridge is unique for its faux arch design. The arched form was generally held to be the most aesthetically successful configuration for urban bridges for its symmetry and associations with classical architecture. The River Street Bridge acknowledges this sense of aesthetic in its arched spandrels. A simple beam bridge in arch clothing, it is a noteworthy, small-scale exercise in urban bridge design.
The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Robert Hybben, Charlene Roise and Clayton Fraser (August 31, 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: River Street Bridge / Richard W. "Dick" Weldon River Street Bridge". National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-06-30. with photo from 1991