Today I found out what exactly a pony truss is. I had heard the term before, but never understood what it meant. In fact, it is quite simple. A pony truss is a truss bridge which allows traffic through the truss, but the top of the bridge is not joined together with cross braces.
Example of a real pony truss bridge:
Any truss bridge can be a pony truss. But not many are being made anymore, so chances are small that you will actually see one.
Actually, Pony truss bridges are still being made and build, just most of them are secondary road that most do not travel. It also depends in the climate and what state you at in, and of course, your state’s designer.
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List of Pony truss bridges:
https://eng.archinform.net/stich/2685.htm
Washington State has an 86 year old Pony Truss bridge that they’ll give away for free.
http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/how-would-you-repurpose-rusty-86-year-old-bridge
Thanks for sharing. I sincerely hope that someone is able to find a suitable use for that historic bridge. I’ve shared this to the Bridgehunter website.
It has found a home to a man in Walla Walla, Wa. It’s going to continue to be a functional bridge across a private creek there. But what a project that will be. It’s been cut up a bit for transport and will have to be lead abated, paint chipped off, repainted, cut parts reassembled, bureaucratic hurdles over there, etc. I can’t imagine. And Walla Walla is clear on the other side of the state. He almost didn’t find a transport company that would touch it.
I’m a local and have crossed that bridge many times but for the last couple of years, it’s been replaced by a temporary Bailey bridge, one-way.
New bridge is now finished and is nice, though. They’ve been worried about the old Pony bridge for some time.
There is a bridge outside Booneville, AR. On Hwy 23 that has been described as a lost pony truss bridge. What is that?
I am not sure what they mean by “lost” if the bridge is still there and in use. Perhaps it refers to the condition of the bridge and it might be replaced soon. You can try to find more information about that specific bridge at this historic bridge website:
http://bridgehunter.com/
Hi Guys,
I read this comments because I wanted to know what ‘pony’ means. Now I know that they are not braced at the top. In Route 66 there are still some Pony bridges. Like the one in Bridgeport coming from the 284 to 66 over the Southern Canadian river. This bridge is quit long, 3/4 mile (!) and contains 38 pont trusses.
what are the advantages of using these pony trusses?
Here is one down the road from me. Mapleton Township Wellington County Ontario Canada. This one replaced a wooden bridge in 1949. https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/photosviewer.php?bridgebrowser=ontario/wellingtonroad7/&gallerynum=2&gallerysize=2
There is a pony bridge over Turnback Creek in Ash Grove, MO. See Google Maps co-ordinates: 37.192413, -93.688043