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Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
 18 b&w photos |  65 data pages | 2 photo caption pages |
How to obtain copies of this item
TITLE:
86th Street Overpass, Spanning Interstate 35 & 80 at Northwest Eighty-si, Urbandale, Polk County, IA
CALL NUMBER:
HAER IA-42
REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
[See Call Number]
MEDIUM:
Photo(s): 18 (4 x 5)
Data Page(s): 64 plus cover page
Photo Caption Page(s): 2
DATE:
Documentation compiled after 1968.
CREATOR:
Historic American Engineering Record, creator
RELATED NAME(S):
Ashton, Edward L.
Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company
Wegman-French, Lysa, transmitter
NOTE:
Survey number HAER IA-42
Unprocessed field note material exists for this structure (N956).
Building/structure dates: 1958 initial construction
Significance: Built as part of the earliest construction on America's interstate highway system, the 86th Street Overpass represents a formative exercise in welded aluminum construction. It was designed by noted Iowa engineer Ned Ashton, under contract with the Iowa State Highway Commission, as an alternative to steel for bridge construction. The bridge's serendipitous merger of structural aluminum and electric arc welding was unprecedented. Never before had one structure combined such novel materials and techniques as this 220-foot-long overpass in Urbandale. Aluminum soon fell into disfavor among structural engineers, however, rendering the 86th Street Overpass an engineering anomaly. The lightweight metal may never have caught on for bridge construction, but the 86th Street Overpass remains an important milestone in civil engineering history: the first welded aluminum bridge in the world.
SUBJECTS:
IOWA--Polk County--Urbandale
COLLECTION:
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)
REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
DIGID:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ia0410
CONTENTS:
Photograph caption(s):
1. Overall view of overpass and interstate 35/80. View to east.
2. Overall view of overpass and interstate 35/80. View to southeast.
3. Overall view of overpass and interstate 35/80. View to northeast.
4. Overall view of overpass and interstate 35/80. View to northwest.
5. North portal of overpass and 86th Street. View to south.
6. South portal of overpass and 86th Street. View to north.
7. Detail of east side of overpass, showing spandrel beam, piers, roadway and guardrails. View to southwest.
8. West side of overpass. View to southeast.
9. Detail of west side of overpass, showing north abutment, beams, piers, roadway and guardrails. View to south.
10. Detail of west side of overpass, showing spandrel beam, piers, roadway and guardrail.
11. Detail of typical pier. View to east.
12. Detail of roadway, showing curb and guardrail, with inter-state 35/80 in background. View to east.
13. Underside of overpass, showing piers, beams, lateral bracing and deck underside. View to north.
14. Detail of spandrel beam, showing typical welds and deck underside. View to southwest.
15. Detail of typical beam / lateral bracing bolted connection. View to northeast.
16. Detail of typical beam / lateral bracing welded connection. View to northeast.
17. Detail of beam bearing shoe and abutment. View to northwest.
18. Detail of guardrail. View to east.
CONTROL #:
IA0410
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