State Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation (2024 Update)

Home

STATE HISTORIC BRIDGE INVENTORY AND EVALUATION 2024 UPDATE J j [ - ° i . . . - . . ALJL \\\ • 11 7 FIGURE 11.STEEL TRESTLE BRIDGE(DRAWING PROVIDED BY MKE ASSOCIATES LLC,2013). Steel Trestle Railroad Bridges Fourteen steel trestle railroad bridges were constructed in 1911 for the Hilo Railroad Company. Five of these (Hakalau, Nanue, Kapue, Paheehee, and Umauma) were reconstructed as territorial highway bridges between 1951 and 1953, the remaining nine were salvaged for use in the reconstruction. The reconstructed steel trestle structures are topped with a concrete and asphalt highway deck. During their conversion, the bridges were widened for highway use by the addition of members from other railroad bridges. The simple horizontal concrete railings were added during the 1951-53 renovations. Significance The period of significance for metal truss and stringer bridges begins in 1912, when the earliest remaining example was erected, and ends in 1957. The period of significance for steel trestle railroad bridges begins in 1911, when they were first constructed, and ends in 1953, after their conversion to highway bridges. Metal bridges are eligible under Criterion A if they contributed in a meaningful way to the settlement and development of a geographically definable area, facilitated major passage to or through a region, or been significantly integral to the development of an effective transportation system. Metal truss bridges in Hawaii are significant as representative examples of the expanding capital investment and control that American manufacturers had gained over their British and German rivals as a consequence of the U.S. annexation of the islands in 1898. The steel stringer bridges are significant for their association with the railroads of the sugar industry. They were built with U.S. Works Program Grade Crossing funding which provided federal money, without the usual match requirement, to build bridges separating railroad and road grades. The erection of metal truss and stringer bridges was a deliberate effort by the territorial government to construct permanent public works improvements requesting the latest technology. The remaining metal truss and stringer bridges are eligible under Criterion C as rare survivors of a once common bridge type and as representative examples of the work of important engineers and builders. These include Joseph H. Moragne of the Kauai Department of Public Works, who oversaw the construction of the Hanalei River Pratt Truss in 1912 (replaced in 2003).James L. Young was responsible for building the Karsten Thot Warren truss over the North Fork of the Kaukonahua Stream in Wahiawa, Oahu in 1932. Young, the founder of J. L. Young Engineering Company, was "in the literal sense of the phrase, a builder of Hawaii."'Young was trained as a civil engineer and an architect. He designed and constructed the first two reinforced-concrete fireproof buildings in Honolulu, the Pantheon Block and the laboratory building at the Bishop Museum. Between 1922 and 1925, Young built over forty-one buildings in Honolulu, including Palama Settlement, the Library of Hawaii (Hawaii State Library), and the 'George F. Nellist, "The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1925, 911-912. cIII ! 23