Little Muncy Creek Pratt Truss

Maintaining an Historic Structure while Increasing Usability
Moreland Township, Pennyslvania

For over a century, the 1904 Little Muncy Creek Pratt Truss serviced Moreland Township, a small, rural community of residents and farmers in northeastern Pennsylvania. Originally, the pin-connected truss provided a critical waterway crossing to complete a path for local farmers to deliver fresh produce to town. However, in 2009, the superstructure was given an NBIS rating of 2-"critical condition," and the crossing was posted for a five-ton weight limit. The required use of a detour by emergency services, school buses, and local deliveries inconvenienced travelers and risked the safety of nearby residents.

1904

original construction date

The bridge's aesthetic qualities remain nearly unchanged, because our design retained the original aesthetics while significantly improving the load-capacity of the structure. Details to improve capacity and to provide structural redundancy included increasing the material strength and size of critical members and installation of catch plates, additional counters, and U-bolt hangers at key joint locations. Future maintenance concerns were addressed by galvanizing and painting all members, adding grease fittings to the pin connections, filling the grid deck with concrete over the abutment seats and over the beam flanges, and adding bent curb plates to direct runoff away from the truss bearings. We were responsible for project management, structural engineering, plan preparation, bid documents, specifications, shop drawing review, and construction services.

Owner

PennDOT District 3-0

Awards

Outstanding Achievement Award

Association for Bridge Construction and Design

Cost

$1.48 million (construction)

Services

  • Engineering

Markets

  • Transportation

Regions

  • Northeast