Non-profit · Saving bridges since 2010
Reviving America’s classic bridges.
America’s great old iron bridges are being demolished as they age. They still have beauty and purpose. We restore them, find them new homes, and turn them into parks people love.
Pictured: Hayden Bridge, Springfield, Oregon. A Clarke, Reeves & Co. Whipple truss we own and are restoring as a heritage bridge park.
2010
Founded, with master craftsman Nels Raynor of Bach Steel
~50
Bridge projects our team has worked on
12
States with preservation efforts underway
2
Heritage bridge parks, with one in every state as the goal
Our mission
We save historic truss bridges.
Workin’ Bridges is a non-profit dedicated to saving America’s historic iron and steel bridges. Our team converts these classic works of American craftsmanship into lively local attractions.
Our first bridge, the McIntyre Bowstring, has now been restored. It took nine years and was very difficult, but we did it. Now we’re raising money for cable railing on the Hayden Bridge and running masonry workshops at the Craighead Bridge, two bridges we took on through our “Preservation via Ownership” initiative.
We need your help. Be an SOB. Tell us your story and let us help save your bridge. With industry partners like Bach Steel and Schiffer Group Engineering, we can make it happen.
How we work
Real numbers, real craftsmen, real bridges.
Successful projects work best when there is private and public interest, plenty of people to help, and funding behind them. Here’s how we bring those together.
01
Preservation via Ownership
We take interim ownership of a bridge to restore it, with final ownership going to a local jurisdiction.
02
Site visits & scope of work
Our engineer and craftsmen visit the bridge and deliver real numbers, so communities can make good decisions.
03
Heritage bridge parks
Our land conservancy buys at-risk bridges and opens them to the public as lovely local parks.
04
Bridges for new homes
When a bridge can’t stay put, we help remove it from its original site and reuse it somewhere new.
Heritage bridge parks
Sometimes saving a bridge means owning it.
Our corporation can buy a bridge that’s at risk of demolition and open it to the public through established land-conservancy policies. Preservation via ownership means economic development and lovely local parks.
Springfield, Oregon
Hayden Bridge →
A rare double-intersection Whipple truss that once carried the transcontinental railroad, now becoming a park on the McKenzie River.
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Craighead Bridge →
A Pratt truss over Yellow Breeches Creek, saved from demolition. We own it and are phasing in repairs, starting with the stone abutments.
Why we do it
“We do this because no one else is action oriented at the local level. It is our goal to save bridges in every state, demonstrating how it can be done, how the work can be funded and how these old bridges contribute economically to a community.”
Workin’ Bridges
Track record
A history of success.
Our team has preserved American history and created public value across the U.S.A.
- Paper Mill Bowstring: rehabilitated and installed in Yorklyn, Delaware, July 2018
- Springfield Bowstring: restored, August 2017
- McIntyre Bowstring: our flagship, restored after nine years
- Waterford Iron Bridge and Bunker Mill Bridge: phase 1 complete
Help us revive these magnificent bridges.
Your gift can be targeted: our Historic Bridge Investment Account, heritage bridge parks, an $8,000–$10,000 site visit for a bridge in need, or the everyday costs of insurance and overhead that grants don’t cover.
Other ways to give
- Mail a check to NSRGA, PO Box 332, Grinnell, IA 50112
- Call 641.260.1262 and we’ll run your card
- Donate stock through our brokerage account and save on capital gains