The Crooked Creek Arch Bridge is located along the National Road in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio.
History
The Crooked Creek Arch Bridge is located in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio. Constructed in 1828, it formerly carried the National Road and U.S. Route 40 over Crooked Creek. 2
The crossing is one of several masonry S bridges built in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and it contains a stone arch span over the creek. 2 Built by Kinkeade & Beck 3 of cut stone laid in courses of one foot or more, the bridge originally had a brick floor. 1
Its history was also tied to Zane’s Trace, the earlier road through the region. In 1803, that trace crossed Crooked Creek a few hundred yards to the north, where logs may have been used to bridge the stream.
Improvements to the National Road west of Crooked Creek were completed in 1914 and 1915, which included adding a four-foot fill to raise the roadway out of the floodplain, leveling some small hills, and smoothing out the curves between the bridge and Cambridge. 4
The bridge was bypassed in 1939 by a new alignment of U.S. Route 40, and the crossing was readapted as a county route. 2
Gallery
Details
- State: Ohio
- Route: County Route 430; National Road
- Status: Active (Automobile)
- Type: Closed Spandrel Arch, Stone Arch
- Total Length: 87'
- Roadway Width: 20'
Sources
- Loveday, Amos J., Jr. “S” Bridge II. National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, July 1972.
- Transportation Information Mapping System. Ohio Department of Transportation.
- “Historical.” Cambridge Jeffersonian, 29 Dec. 1904, p. 3.
- “Making Progress on Guernsey Pike.” Zanesville Signal, 13 Nov. 1914, p. 12.