Jeddo Rd. / S. Branch Mill Creek

County: Shiawassee

City/Township: Brockway Twp.

Location: Jeddo Rd. / S. Branch Mill Creek

Year Built: 1939

About this Bridge:
The Jeddo Road Bridge is eligible for the National Register as a well-documented example of Depression-era county bridge construction.

Plates on the southwest and northeast ends of the bridge list the members of the board of the St. Clair County Road Commission (John Watson, chair; F.W. Moore; F.W. Andreae), as well as the county engineer (Ken K. Goeltz) and the county bridge engineer (B.L. Parker). The plate identifies the bridge as "No. S-494-2-2.0," and indicates that the bridge was erected in 1939 by contractor Marshall Campbell of Port Huron, the county seat.

The bridge replaced "an old steel span having [a] 12-foot roadway, and about 5 tons carrying capacity," according to an article in Michigan Roads and Construction on the road commission's activities in 1939. The article also contained a photograph of the new bridge. An entry in the road commission's proceedings reports that Campbell was awarded the construction contract for $9,855 on 25 May 1939.

Plans and specifications for the structure were prepared "by our bridge engineer," Ben L. Parker. Parker was presumably also responsible for the design of a similar structure, the Comstock Road Bridge over Eves Drain, which was also built in 1939 but does not have as good integrity.