Engineer Street Bridge

The Engineer Street Bridge, located in Corbin, Kentucky, serves as a pedestrian crossing over Lynn Camp Creek.

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The Engineer Street Bridge, located in Corbin, Kentucky, serves as a pedestrian crossing over Lynn Camp Creek.

Constructed around 1880 by the Louisville Bridge Company for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N), the bridge was later offered to the city of Corbin in 1902 due to the increasing weight of coal trains. ^{2 3}

A.C. Carr drafted an advertisement for bids to build the stone abutments for the new bridge, with Perdu winning the contract. ³ The abutments were constructed, and in 1905, the bridge was relocated to accommodate automobile traffic on East Main Street (originally Engineers Street, renamed back to Engineers Street in 1963 ⁸) as a replacement for an aging span over Lynn Camp Creek.

The bridge was closed for repairs in 1967 and again in 1976. ^{6 9 10}

In 1986, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. At that time, ^{2 3} it was one of only two Pratt through truss bridges in Kentucky featuring patented Phoenix columns from the Phoenix Iron Works of Pennsylvania.

By 1992, inspectors from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet determined that repairing the bridge would be as costly, if not more so, than constructing a new one. ⁵ Plans for a new overpass in the area also necessitated the permanent closure of the street. The estimated cost for repairing and refurbishing the bridge was $250,000. ⁷

A selection committee, which included representatives from state education, tourism, transportation, and local officials, reviewed a city request for a $500,000 federal Department of Transportation grant to convert the closed automobile bridge into a lighted, accessible pedestrian path. ⁷

The Engineers Street Bridge was renovated as a pedestrian path in 2007. ¹ The bridge received repairs to its wooden deck in 2024. ⁴

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Details

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Sources

1. Bridge nameplate.
2. “Engineer Street Bridge & Creek Walk.” Corbin Tourism & Convention Commission.
3. Powell, Helen. “East Main Street Bridge.” Kentucky Historic Resources Inventory, 1984.
4. Hicks, Austin. “Famous Corbin bridge renovated.” WYMT, 2 May 2024.
5. Burdette, Dick. “London, er, Corbin bridge is coming down.” Herald-Leader, 30 Nov. 1994, p. C1.
6. “Engineers Agree to Repair Bridge.” Corbin Times-Tribune, 7 Dec. 1967, p. 1.
7. Burdette, Dick. “Covered wooden bridges aren’t the only disappearing structures.” Herald-Leader, 4 Feb. 2000, p. B3.
8. “Residents Don’t Like Changing Streets Name.” Corbin Times-Tribune, 4 Dec. 1962, p. 1.
9. “State Will Review Traffic Problems.” Corbin Times-Tribune, 17 Aug. 1976, pp. 1-3.
10. “State Agrees to Pay Cost of Repairing Bridge.” Corbin Times-Tribune, 5 Oct. 1976, p. 1.