Hares Hill Road Bridge

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Silver Bridge - Hares Hill Road Bridge over French Creek
Silver Bridge - Hares Hill Road Bridge over French Creek
Looking upstream
Official name S.R. 1045 Hares Hill Bridge
Carries single lane of PA State Route S.R.1045 in Chester County
Crosses French Creek
Locale Kimberton, Pennsylvania and Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Maintained by PennDOT
ID number 15104500201201
Design open grate steel deck wrought iron through lattice girder
Total length 31.5 m (103'-4")
Width 4.26 m (14 ft)
AADT approx 4,000
Opening date 1869
Coordinates 40.140867° N 75.568333° W

The Hares Hill Road Bridge is a single span wrought iron tied arch structure with lattice infilling. It was built in 1869 in Chester County, Pennsylvania by Moseley Iron Bridge and Roof Company and is the only known surviving example of this kind. The bridge crosses French Creek connecting Kimberton, Pennsylvania and Spring City, PA. The structure has a current load posting of 7 tons.

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[edit] Structure Information

The Hares Hill Road Bridge is a single span, 103’- 4” long, wrought iron tied arch structure with lattice infilling. It was built in 1869 in Chester County, Pennsylvania by Moseley Iron Bridge and Roof Company. Abraham Taney, Jr., a Mason Contractor and fabricator, erected the bridge in 1869. Stone masonry abutments support the superstructure and the open grid deck. Over the years, the bridge has had extensive rehabilitations.

The structure is listed in the National Register and has a high degree of historical and technological significance: it is the only known surviving example of Thomas William Moseley’s Wrought Iron Lattice Girder Bridge”. The bridge has already been recorded for the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) with detailed drawings, photographs and a substantial historical narrative. The structure carries one lane of traffic on S.R. 1045 (Hares Hill Road) across French Creek. Residences are located along the north bank of French Creek and a wooded area runs along the south bank.

The abutments are founded on rock and consist of random rubble mortared sandstone. They are 20 feet long, 7 feet wide at the base, have a batter of ½” to the foot, and are about 12 feet high above low water. Concrete pedestals have replaced the original stone bearing seats. Wing walls extend approximately 60 feet with a slight flare on the south side. The north wings are about 20 feet long.

The original superstructure consisted of the 2 wrought-iron arched girders with lattice webbing and a timber floor system. The arch girders are made up of a pair of “Z-bars” riveted to a central plate diaphragm. Diagonal latticing fills the web between the upper and lower portions of the plate. Each arch has 7 vertical members which support the floor system along with the lattice and bottom tie plate. Bowstring-type tie rods extend diagonally from the bottom of the center vertical on both sides of each arch.

The HABS/HAER narrative cites 3 major rehabilitations.

While the bridge is currently painted yellow, it was painted silver for many years and local residents still refer to it as the “Silver Bridge.”

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