1Ernesto

Mottville Bridge Built 1922

The US-12 St. Joseph River Bridge crosses the St. Joseph River in Mottville Township at the west edge of the Village of Mottville, Michigan. It is situated at a...
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The US-12 St. Joseph River Bridge crosses the St. Joseph River in Mottville Township at the west edge of the Village of Mottville, Michigan. It is situated at a historic river crossing, the fourth bridge to span the St. Joseph River at Mottville. The bridge is a two hundred and seventy foot long, reinforced concrete, camelback-arch bridge composed of three ninety foot long and twenty-two foot wide spans resting on concrete piers and abutments. The bridge is constructed using massive concrete reinforced steel girders, providing the structure with its distinctive arches. The Mottville Bridge, and indeed all of Michigan's 90 foot concrete camelback spans should be considered to have national historic significance, since these spans exceed the national average maximum length for concrete through girder bridges (either curved or straight chord) by 30 feet, since most states only built through girder bridges up to 60 feet. The Mottville Bridge is perhaps the most beautiful and architecturally well-designed of any concrete through girder in the country.

History: The Great Sauk Trail, which connected Detroit, Chicago and Green Bay, Wisconsin, crossed the St. Joseph River at a shallow spot in this vicinity. Responding to the westward migration of pioneers, the federal government surveyed the trail and converted it into the Chicago Road (presently U.S. 12) in 1825.
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