To me seeing these kind of bridges, there's something American about them too me. Perhaps due to exposure in media over the decades.

the thing is, the intricate metalwork IS that love from the train's perspective. there's absolutely blander ways of making a bridge (just look at any modern design....YAWN, bunch of boring blobs.) but looking at other railroad architecture of the same time such as stations and crossing houses in original condition its spot on in the streamlined yet stylized way that classic railroads evoke and why they matter so much to Americans in that form and not in the boring modern one.

besides, all that you really need to do to make it "more exciting" or whatever is make the tresses tall and round. the tallness, wayyyy out of scale with what's needed, is impressive and has the beauty of grandeur, meanwhile the roundness is comfortable and familiar, the scallop shell and the rising sun are mirrored in its half-circle and connecting beams. same old bare metal with those silly old elaborate cut patterns which was exceedingly fancy considering the beams come solid and they have to make those cuts perfectly. by hand. manually. no automatic digital cnc machine to do all the work. saves on weight and looks great. a lot of thought if you ask me.

additionally, its the modern eye that sees disrepair, these things are made to be able to be repaired from this condition and worse. modern stuff is all demolition and do it again, very wasteful and shows very little foresight or skill on the part of the people we're supposed to trust to maintain our infrastructure. they can't just lose their minds at surface rust and call in the TNT truck. i'm sure there's somebody out there who's not a dolt that'll do what the bridge needs instead of bowing to the reaction-culture of brainless modernity.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I feel an attachment to structures like this, but find it hard to translate those feelings into words.

Ooo, I love this. Abandoned bridges are so romantic somehow.

"To define it rudely but not inaptly, [engineering] is the art of doing that well with one dollar which any bungler can do with two after a fashion."

Arthur M. Wellington, 'The Economic Theory of the Location of Railways', 1887

It's a beautiful bridge.

Accurate.

Looks like an apocalyptic scene.

I love civil engineering. This is a wonderful example of the builders trying to be as frugal as they can, and still carry the loads. Notice the 'cross-hatching' steel straps. They provide stability by being attached diagonally, and also allow for the least use of steel possible. I find steel construction very interesting!

I love it as well. If I hadn’t been a software engineer, civil engineering may have been the profession for me. There is a reason that there are two CEs in my Long Division cast.

this so reminds me of Million Dollar Bridge which is in the middle of nowhere up in Alaska (a good many miles outside of Cordova). It used to be for the Copper River Railroad, and the road goes nowhere. Since there was no need, everything was abandoned. The only thing that saved it was the state making it a historic site.

I've always thought that there is an inherent beauty in pure functionality, and a well-engineered and built bridge imparts that sort of functional beauty the same way that, say, a WW2 Jeep does.

It helps that this is a beautifully composed image.

It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law.^{--Louis Sullivan}

Turns out the main bridge is still in use. I found the tale of its partner to the right, too. Built in 1910 it was smaller, lighter, almost gracile it was the original bridge. It carried a conventional road (automobile, horse and buggy) and rail traffic but was cut loose within the past ten years.

Looky, looky looky!
Frankfort Railroad Bridge
Broadway Railroad Bridge (Kentucky River Railroad Bridge)

Thanks so much for the info, the links, and the fave.

Less than three years earlier that roadway span would've been intact though possibly no longer in use. Interesting elevated street running section too. There's even a short tunnel in town.

CSX ran it's B&O paintsceme F40PHs though there in 2024.

https://youtu.be/KI86qO3EMm0?t=700

Thanks so much for sharing that YouTube link.

While doing some research on the surrounding area, I found a satellite photo with the vehicular bridge intact. Guessed that it was from only a year or two prior to my visit.