The Powell Bridge is located over Big Sugar Creek 0.4 miles southwest of Powell in Section 21, Township 22 North, Range 30 West in McDonald County, Missouri. McDonald County is the southwestern most county of Missouri... The bridge was built in 1914-1915 and was opened to the public in August of 1915. It consists of a 140’ 8-panel pin-connected Pratt through truss main span of wrought iron and iron and a 70’ 4-panel pin-connected Pratt pony truss approach span. It was constructed to have a 12’ wide roadway. The substructure includes concrete abutments, wing walls and a pier cap reinforced with steel plate. The floor/decking is timber deck over steel stringers...
The Powell Bridge, located on Conway Ridge Road (off Hwy E) over Big Sugar Creek 0.4 miles west of Powell, McDonald County, Missouri, is significant in the area of engineering. The Powell Bridge was constructed in 1914-1915 and officially accepted on Monday, August 16, 1915. It is an iron 8-panel, pin-connected Pratt through truss with a 4-panel, pin-connected Pratt pony truss approach span. It is the only remaining nineteenth-century pinned-connected Pratt through truss bridge in McDonald County. The bridge is especially noteworthy because it is still intact today and being used for vehicular traffic 95 years after it was opened. Today it does have a load limit specification. The significance of this bridge is based on a well-preserved long-span example of a mainstay structural type. It is also one of the few roadway bridges in Missouri that combine a Pratt through truss and a pony truss span.
The bridge was replaced by a new bridge which was built adjacent to this old bridge and was opened in early 2014. The old bridge is transferred to the care of the Powell Historical Preservation Society. The bridge is closed to vehicle traffic and is open only to pedestrians.