McKeown Bridge

Instructions

Image Proofs

Barry County bypassed this historic truss bridge with a modern structure and restored the historic bridge, creating an attractive park around it. They also had an official Michigan Historic Site plaque put up. This represents a pleasing solution to maintaining an efficient road system, retaining structures with significant historic value, and also creating a park for residents and visitors to enjoy. With this solution, everyone came out ahead. Barry County sets a good example for future bridge preservation projects elsewhere.

The McKeown Road Bridge received its current, official name during the 1930s when electric companies extended their services to rural areas and developed a system of naming rural road to aid in servicing lines and billing customers. The road and bridge received their name from C.J. McKeown, a local farmer, who owned the Sponable farm on the east side of the road north of the Thornapple River. The McKeown Bridge is the last metal truss highway bridge in Barry County.

This bridge is a Pratt through truss with pinned connections. The bridge is composed of eight panels. An unusual characteristic of the bridge is that the portal bracing is identical to the sway bracing. The design of the bracing is an a-frame design. V-lacing is present on the bridge under the top chord and end post as well as on the vertical members. The deck is wooden, and while the deck is wood, the abutments are stone, and appear to have been patched as part of the restoration.  A couple of panels of the lattice guardrails were reused as gates for this bridge. The modern railings placed on the bridge are not as detrimental to the historic appearance of the bridge as railings placed on many other restored truss bridges.