Smithville Road Bridge

The original bridge at this location was built in the mid 1800’s and was a gracefully arched wooden bridge with stone abutments. A new reinforced concrete bridge was built in 1914. It was a seven-span structure the utilized the existing masonry abutments and wingwalls. The bridge was one of the first in the state to drive precast concrete piles, as the new technology was rarely utilized at the time.

The bridge was closed in January 2017 due to concrete deterioration. Fortunately, a project to replace the bridge was already underway, and construction started later that year. The project was originally anticipated to finish in December of 2018, but completion was delayed due to a design flaw involving the retaining wall adjacent to the bridge. The steel piles ended up being too shallow to support the new sidewalk and guiderail. The project was further delayed when the bridge railings needed to be returned so that the corrosive protection could be reapplied, and they also needed to be repainted to match a hue mandated by the State Historic Preservation Office.

The new bridge opened in 2019 and was designed to evoke the appearance and construction techniques of the previous bridge. However, it is much wider than the previous bridge and now has shoulders and sidewalks. This is particularly important because the bridge is within Historic Smithville Park and now allows people to safely walk from one end of the park to the other end.