S bridge
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An S bridge is a double-curved bridge, shaped roughly like a shallow letter S, used in early 19th century road construction in the United States. They were generally used for crossing small, curving streams with uneven banks. These bridges are found in and around the New Concord, Ohio area.
S Bridges were originally constructed early in the 19th century. The design was adopted where the road crossed the creek or river at an angle. Constructing a bridge at an angle was much more complicated and expensive than building the bridge perpedicular to the water flow and banks. Therefore, the bridges were constructed at 90 degrees to the bank then two 'aprons' were constructed at opposite angles to direct the traffic flow smoothly onto the bridge, thus creating the 's' shape.
Only a few of these bridges still exist, mostly in Ohio. Two of them are located in Guernsey County, one of which is still in use carrying traffic. The bridge pictured with this article is located in New Concord in Muskingum County.
All of these bridges were constructed as a part of the original National Road which was built circa 1825.
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