Bridge No: 42700020000100

Asset ID: 156

County: Spartanburg

Bridge Name:

Facility Carried: S-42-20 (Depot Street)

Feature Intersected: Tributary to Pacolet River

Year Built: 1923

Year Reconstructed:

Main Structure Type: Deck arch

Design:

Main Material: Reinforced Concrete

Railing Type: Incised panel concrete parapets

Number of Main Spans: 2

Number of Approach Spans:

Approach Type:

Structure Length: 54 feet

Structure Width: 22.4 feet

Setting: The bridge carries a 2-lane road over a stream in a wooded, rural setting with scattered 20th century residences.It is at the northeast limit of Campobello.The route appears to be a bypassed loop of State Highway (SH) 11 that is now on a new alignment to the north.SH 11 was not one of the original state routes.The former Southern Railway crosses at grade west of the bridge.SH 11 intersects US 176, one of the original state highways, in the center of Campobello.

The 2 span, 54'-long deck arch bridge has incised panel parapets with articulated posts at the ends and at mid span. There are flared wingwalls at the abutments. The clear span of each arch is 26'. The bridge is complete.

Because of its position in the northwest corner of the state, Spartanburg County has historically been crisscrossed by important trails, roads, railroads, and after 1917, state highways. In the years between the Civil War and World War I, the county prospered as a railroad center, a textile mill center, a trans-shipment center for fruit, and a tourist destination.Consequently, when the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 provided matching funds for the construction of permanent roads and bridges, the county was well-positioned to participate.Until 1924, South Carolina required that county road commission funds, not state funds, be used for the federal 50%-50% match.That policy precluded most of the state’s counties beyond Greenville, Richland and Spartanburg from participating in the program.Spartanburg County approved a 1.25 million dollar road and bridge construction bond in 1917 and used the money to improve routes included as part of the original 1917 state highway system.At least four deck arch bridges were built by the county in the Campobello vicinity using federal matching funds.The oldest extant county example was placed in 1920 over Lawsons Fork Creek (422001760900).The bridge plaque identifies that it was designed and built by the Luten Bridge Company of Knoxville.The firm opened its Knoxville office about 1914, and they marketed their patented reinforced concrete bridge designs to counties throughout the region from that location.Although no maker plaque survives on the Campobello area arch bridges (just the scar where it was originally attached) built in 1922 or 1923 on bypassed loops of state highways, they are attributed to Luten Bridge Company as well.This bridge was placed in 1923.The 18'- to 20' wide travelway, unimproved shoulders, blunt bridge ends, and tight curves are all typical of the early state highway design.This 1923 bridge is historically and technologically significant for its technological significance as one of the earliest complete deck arch bridges in the state and for its association with the original federal-state-county partnership program for improving roads and bridges prior to 1924.Spartanburg County built deck arch bridges on non-state routes as well (see 4270040700100).None of Spartanburg County’s early bridge records survive.