McGilvray Road is located in Northwest La Crosse County, Wisconsin, in the Van Loon Wildlife Area. Located on a former vehicular road is a unique combination of five rare bowstring arch truss bridges and one low truss bridge. They represent two styles of bridge construction popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which are quickly being replaced due to deterioration or inability to meet today’s greater traffic requirements. Currently the McGilvray Road and its bridges are open only to pedestrian traffic.
For numerous pictures of each of the six bridges along with detailed descriptions and technical information, please see this site:
www.historicbridges.org.
The following web site contains more information and several pictures of each of the bridges:
John Weeks.com.
The First Bridge – 1905
This two span low steel bowstring arch truss bridge is 17 feet wide and 134 feet long with one middle span support and a wooden deck. New planking was added in 2015.
The Second Bridge – 1908
This two span low steel bowstring arch truss bridge is 17 feet wide and 140 feet long with one middle span support and a deck of treated wood planking.
The Third Bridge – 1905
This three span bridge measures 17 feet wide and 110 feet long. It has two simple spans on each side of a bowstring arch. New planking was added in 2017.
The Fourth Bridge – 1907
This double span bridge is 17 feet wide and 131 feet long and features a jack arch deck of treated wood planking.
The Fifth Bridge – 1921
The Cave Creek Bridge from Pierce County, El Paso, Wisconsin was relocated to this site in the winter of 1996-1997. Adopted and carefully restored by the F.M.R., it is 60 feet long and 17 feet wide with a low truss steel span and a new wooden deck. It is located in the area of the former kingpost bridge.
Original Kingpost bridge. 1920 – 1986
The Sixth Bridge – 1906
The single span bridge measures 17 feet wide by 50 feet long. It was raised out of the river, extensively repaired, and positioned on new pilings. In 1996 it was given a new wooden deck.
The Seventh Bridge 1892-1954
The steel bridge, which spanned the Black River, was built in 1892 and dismantled in 1954. It measured 250 feet long and afforded travel to Trempealeau County.
