A Survey and Photographic Inventory of Metal Truss Bridges in Virginia, 1865-1932: I: An Examination of the Development of the Truss Form Including an Annotated List of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Bridge Companies

About the report:

The romance and myths long associated with the covered wooden bridges that once populated the rural roads of the American landscape have produced a multitude of popular literary works on their form, purpose and ultimately demise. Consequently, covered bridges have become something of a symbol of a past era. Similar speculation on the origins and development of the still familiar, though often ignored, metal truss bridges resulted in the undertaking of a statewide photographic and documentary survey of the remaining metal truss bridges in Virginia. This report is an introduction to the survey project and includes an explanation of the general procedure to be followed; however, its primary concern is with the origin of truss designs and developments in structural technology during the nineteenth century. Additional reports dealing with the survey of each of the Commonwealth's eight highway construction districts are to follow.

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