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Brent Spence Bridge, Covington, KY - Cincinnati, OH

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 20:07:22 GMT

One of Two Double-Decker bridges on the Ohio River System

There is a lot of buzz right now over one of the largest bridge construction and reconstruction projects in America's bridge family.

Built in 1963 at a cost of $10 million, the Brent Spence Bridge spans the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Because of the odd meandering of state boundaries on the river, the entire bridge is located within and maintained by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Among the more than 30 double-decker bridges in the United States, this bridge is one of only two double-decker bridges on the Ohio River. The northbound lanes going into Ohio across the river are on the bottom tier, and the southbound lanes bound for Kentucky are on the top tier.

The bridge is a three-span, riveted continuous-cantilevered Warren through truss measuring 1,736.4 feet long. The channel span above the river barge traffic is 830.8 feet long. It was built by the American Bridge Company of New York, and the chief engineer on the project was famed designer Ralph Modjeski, who also designed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, the Huey P. Long Bridge west of New Orleans, and two of the four bridges across the Mississippi River at Memphis.

Named for longtime Kentucky U.S. Congressman Brent Spence, the 6-lane bridge was immediately designated the Ohio River crossing for Interstates 71 and 75, which automatically overloaded its traffic count. Originally designated comfortably for about 80,000 vehicles a day, it now carries 160,000 cars and trucks every day. It was expanded to eight lanes in 1985 when the emergency stopping lanes were incorporated into forward traffic. But two years ago, the American Transportation Research Institute ranked the Brent Spence congestion bottleneck the second worst in the nation for trucks. It has been the scene of several terrible accidents, some that damaged the truss and the bridge deck, closing it down for days that sent thru traffic flooding onto several other river crossings, including the I-275 bypass around the area. Rehabilitation and repair of the bridge was estimated at $21 million dollars back in 2018.

Communities, the federal government, traffic experts and commuters hope the answer to the congestion is a $1.635 billion dollar construction and rebuild of the Brent Spence bridge. The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, announced by President Biden, Governors Beshear of Kentucky and DeWine of Ohio, along with transportation administrators on December 29, 2022 would result in an entirely new companion bridge across the river just west of the current bridge, that would specifically carry five lanes of northbound and five separate lanes of southbound I-71-75 thru traffic with limited access only. Meanwhile, the current Spence bridge would become local-traffic-only, reverting to the original 1963 three lanes northbound and three lanes southbound, and the emergency shoulder lanes restored. The new companion bridge would not be a double-decker design like the current bridge; instead, it's proposed to be a steel arch, cable-tied bridge.

Administrators with the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project have put together a flyover of the construction rebuild, starting from the South Dixie Highway-U.S. Highways 25-42-127 interchange in Covington, across the river and up to the Western Hills Viaduct in Cincinnati. Copy and past the flyover here: https://youtu.be/Z8Y_XbIv_9c

Personal note: Having traveled the current Brent Spence Bridge many times going to and from Tennessee when I worked in Columbus, Ohio, getting on and off the bridge is not the problem. With immediate exits and entrances on either end and virtually no time to react to them, the problem is cars and trucks merging into each other to take those entrances and exits at the last minute and not having enough room to do that safely. The re-design hopes to eliminate those quick lane changes, to allow more time and space for traffic to decide where it needs to go, while preserving the elegance of one of the most majestic bridges on the Ohio River.

Central Holston River Bridge, Sullivan County, TN

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 03:38:05 GMT

One of Upper East Tennessee's Oldest Bridges Hidden from View -- until the winter

In the spring and summer, passersby usually don't see the one-lane Central Holston Bridge. It fits very snuggly in the weeds, vines and foliage that love to hug the South Holston River as it quietly traverses eastern Sullivan County.

But in a winter setting when the leaves are gone, remnants of one of the oldest settlers of the county is seen, uneventfully spanning the rapids of the river as it's done for the past 120 years.

Built in 1902-03, the Central Holston Bridge shares its name with the church on its south end, the Central Holston Christian Church and therein lies a tale. Ellen Boyer is one of many neighbors who share a kinship with the bridge and she knows the story well. She's traced her family back to both John Sevier and Davy Crockett more than 200 years ago and her family helped found the Central Holston Christian Church on the banks of the river. Today, she's one of its proudest members, remembering a fun fact about one-lane bridges common to the early 1900's.

"If my daddy saw another car across the river on the other side approaching the bridge on Sand Bar Road or Riverview Road," she laughs, "he would speed up so that he could get onto the bridge first and have the right-of-way. He'd also do that for the other two one-lane steel bridges downriver at Weaver Pike and Old Weaver Pike. It was always a contest to see who'd get the right-of-way first."

She also knows how the Central Holston Bridge got its name. "The way it is positioned, when you come across the bridge from the north side headed south, the church is right in your path. Back then, you could drive right up to the front doors of the church before veering off to go around the building. That's the way the church founders wanted it. Because it was in the "central position" at the end of the bridge, they called it the Central Holston Christian Church and the crossing became the Central Holston Bridge. The name for both has endured all these years."

"It's the church history that's tied to visitors crossing the bridge that led right up to the front doors."

The bridge was built by the Cope Bridge Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the only bridge in Tennessee ever built by the company. According to historical records at the Tennessee Department of Transportation, bridge builders Morris Cope and Oliver Cope were also agents for the Columbus Bridge Company of Ohio and the Converse Bridge Company also of Chattanooga, which itself built the other two nearby Pratt-style through truss bridges downriver across the South Holston River in Sullivan County. Many of the steel beam fabrications for Central Holston were thought to be made by the Lomas Forge and Bridge Company of Cincinnati, and the Siskin Steel Company of Chattanooga.

The Central Holston Bridge consists of one pin-connected Camelback-style Pratt through truss span over the river channel, and a shorter Pratt through truss span, also pin-connected over the north shore flood plain. Steel truss bridges with beams that were connected by pins were common at the turn of the 19th century, but were deemed unreliable when heavier vehicles began using those bridges in the early 1900's. Most bridge manufacturers determined that beams connected with rivets were much stronger, but many pin-connected bridges still exist.

The Central Holston Camelback through truss span across the river is 171 feet long and 11.5 feet wide, and the Pratt span over the flood plain is 99 feet long, also 11.5 feet wide. The Camelback span is resting on four tubular supports, two on either side of the river, which was common for truss bridges built in the late 1800's. Central Holston's original decking is timber planks laid back to back which are still visible, later covered by a sheet of asphalt.

The beloved bridge is still with us today. "People love the Central Holston Bridge," Boyer says. "It was one of only two ways to head north to Bristol from the Hickory Tree and Possum Creek areas in front of Holston Mountain for many years."

Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Central Holston Bridge is eligible to be listed under the National Register of Historic Places because of its construction method, location and the company which built it.

Old Stone Bridge, Goodlettsville, TN

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 03:02:44 GMT

The oldest documented bridge in Tennessee

If you're ever wondering where one of the oldest documented highway bridges might still be standing in Tennessee, look no further than the Old Stone Bridge just north of Goodlettsville, Tennessee on the Sumner-Davidson County line, just north of Nashville.

Crossing tranquil Mansker Creek, the Old Stone Bridge was built in 1837 as part of the old Louisville and Nashville Turnpike between those two cities. Its early beginnings featured just a wagon road on a dirt path, with the path eventually becoming a toll road for interstate commerce between the Midwest and the South. The original beginnings of the turnpike seem to document this bridge as one of the oldest, if not the oldest highway bridge in Tennessee. A similar bridge, the Cheek's Tavern stone arch bridge was also built on the turnpike about 20 miles north of here across the Red River in 1841. Together, the two bridges hosted stagecoaches that regularly ran the north-south route, and President Andrew Jackson was said to be a frequent visitor riding on the cobblestones of the road and through the dirt ruts on the bridges.

Today, only one documented segment of the old Louisville and Nashville Turnpike is on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins along the northern boundary of the Fort Knox Military Reservation between Muldraugh and West Point, Kentucky and runs for about three miles towards the Ohio and Salt Rivers. It includes three stone bridges just like the Old Stone Bridge, but much shorter and built later. Its access is within a military training area at Fort Knox, but the passageway is open to the public most weekends as a hiking trail.

The turnpike on which the Old Stone Bridge was located, was used by both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War.

The Old Stone Bridge in Goodlettsville is a simple two-span stone elliptical, fixed deck, masonry arch bridge 90 feet long... its longest span is 25 feet. It underwent rehabilitation in 1986 and received an architectural award from the Metropolitan Historical Commission of Nashville-Davidson County.

The modern day route across the bridge ends at private property on its north end, but the spans across the creek are publicly accessible at the south end. Nearby busy U.S. Highway 31-W once crossed over the arches following the western part of the turnpike north to Louisville, with U.S. Highway 31-E following the eastern part of the turnpike north to Louisville, too.

U.S. 31-W was also the western Chicago-to-Miami route of the famed Dixie Highway. Heading south to Nashville, Highway 31-W crossed the Old Stone Bridge, joined Highway 31-E to become U.S. Highway 31, which then entered Nashville and continued on to Alabama.

The turnpike's nearby namesake, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was completed in 1859, and just like U.S. 31-W, the tracks parallel the turnpike's route north and south between the two cities.

Eads Bridge, St. Louis, MO

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 02:37:25 GMT

Mississippi Bridge Building began with this bridge

Many of the bridges I have visited and photographed over the years have been signature bridges, special designs, unusual constructions, and occasionally, first bridges in their communities.

The Eads Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri fits every one of those categories.

The Eads Bridge was the first bridge built on the entire 2,340 miles of the Mississippi River (including all 142 main crossings from Minneapolis to New Orleans, plus numerous smaller crossings in northern Minnesota where 'Ole Man River' is no wider than a creek). According to engineering records, this bridge at St. Louis was also the first crossing to modernize the design style of the ancient Roman arch. To this day, Eads holds the title of "oldest bridge on the Mississippi River system."

Bridge designer and engineer James Buchanan Eads had never built a bridge before, but he was quite successful at building iron-clad Union gunships during the Civil War. When hired to build a combination railroad-vehicle bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, he envisioned a modernized series of Roman-style, open spandrel deck arches using steel as the arch material instead of concrete, as most bridges were. His choice of using steel raised a lot of eyebrows in the bridge engineering world.

Built over a seven-year period beginning in 1867 by the Kelly-Atkinson Construction Company of Chicago at a cost of $10 million dollars ($240 million in today's dollars), James Eads carefully crafted the first steel bridge in the world. It utilizes high quality tubular Carnegie steel supplied by the Keystone Bridge Company, whose owner, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, was said to be rather dubious that steel would work in a bridge application... after all, most bridges of the era were simple iron trusses or suspension bridges. Despite his hesitation, Carnegie agreed to provide materials for what became a test case for steel.

The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to utilize the "cantilever" method of distributing weight, where the forward deck weight from each side is projected towards the center of the span, and both sides connecting at the span's middle. That same concept was used in building New York's Brooklyn Suspension Bridge when its construction began two years later in 1869.

Building the Eads piers also utilized a "first time" technique. Pneumatic chambers filled with concrete, each of them nine feet tall, 50 feet long with riveted iron plates were sunk more than 125 feet into the sandy Mississippi River bottom until they hit bedrock. It was the first time that pneumatic caissons were used in bridge construction, and also the deepest usage of them to build piers. Because of the difference in air pressure in the vacuums created by the caissons pushing the air out, 14 men perished during the drilling process.

The Eads Bridge is a three-span, metal braced, steel-ribbed, open-spandrel, deck arch bridge, measuring 4,007 feet long, which includes 84 stone semicircular closed-spandrel deck arch approaches. The longest span of the bridge is the channel span used by barges in the middle of the three steel arches... it is 520 feet long, which at the time it was built, was the longest single bridge span in the world. The steel arches on either side, one in Missouri, the other in Illinois, both measure 502 feet long each.

Just before the bridge opened, the "Wayback Machine" internet archive notes that on June 14, 1874, a 'test elephant' from a visiting traveling circus was led on a stroll across the Eads Bridge before it opened to prove to the city it was safe. It was believed that elephants have instincts that keep them from setting foot on what they perceive to be unsafe structures. The elephant arrived safely on the other side of the bridge to cheering crowds. Two weeks later, engineer Eads sent 14 locomotives pulling heavy loads back and forth across the bridge all at the same time to further prove its worthiness. The combination railroad-highway bridge was dedicated with great fanfare by President Ulysses S. Grant on July 4, 1874.

The Eads was the first of eight highway bridges (and one railroad bridge) built across the Mississippi at St. Louis as late as 2014. The top highway deck closed in 1989 for repairs and rehabilitation and reopened in 2003 for vehicles and pedestrians. The old railroad deck underneath now conveys two tracks of the city's Metrolink commuter rail system.

Today, the Eads Bridge delivers employees to the industrial works of East St. Louis, Missouri on the east side, and tourists to the foot of the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis on the west side.

The Eads Bridge is listed as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

East and West Bridges, Elkhorn City, KY

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 23:51:58 GMT

Two Identical Bridges on Either Side of a Bend in the River

1912 was an important year for about a hundred people living in a bend of the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River Levisa Fork, near the southeastern border that Kentucky shares with Virginia.

That year, residents in the bend would incorporate themselves as the city of Elkhorn City, Kentucky. Also that same year, two major railroads, the Chesapeake & Ohio from the north and the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio from the south through the "breaks" would meet together for the first time. The result would bridge the transportation of commodities between the Midwest and important ports along the Atlantic coast.

And in 1912, another local transportation step forward was taken in Elkhorn City when two separate, one-lane steel truss bridges were built in the new community, spanning the Russell Fork on either side of the rapidly growing town. Both bridges would later become part of major east-west Kentucky State Route 80. They replaced dangerous fords in their locations and although abandoned, both bridges amazingly still stand today, more than 110 years later.

The bridge on the west side of town consists of an eight panel, pin-connected Pratt camelback through truss channel span at 152 feet long, along with two seven-panel, pin-connected Pratt through truss approach spans, for a total bridge length of about 325 feet. According to Larry Lounsberry, manager of the nearby Elkhorn City Railroad Museum, the bridge that was originally built by the Champion Bridge Company of Wilmington, Ohio was recycled by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad from its original location at Catlettsburg, Kentucky over the Big Sandy River, to be used as a highway bridge at its present location upriver at Elkhorn City. Although the deck was removed years ago, the bridge had been converted to a pedestrian walkway, but is now closed to all traffic. Mr. Lounsberry says there is an effort underway to restore that historic function. It was bypassed by a new bridge further downriver in 1950.

On the eastern end of town is an almost identical, but longer steel truss bridge, with one nine-panel Pratt camelback, pin-connected span over the river channel at about 176 feet long, and two pin-connected Pratt through truss approach spans. The total bridge length at this crossing is about 390 feet. No manufacturing plate is available on the east bridge, but it's believed that the Champion Bridge Company also built that one because of its similarities to the west bridge. A new crossing, the "Kelver and 'Bumper Jack' Stiltner Bridge was completed just downstream in 2015.

The East bridge would indeed be noteworthy if indeed built by Champion, because it would be one of the largest and longest surviving examples lengthwise of a pin-connected bridge from that company from the late 1800's to the early 1900's.

Although not a builder of bridges anymore, the Champion Bridge Company is now in the iron and steel fabrication business today, but a number of its early bridges are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Owensboro Bridge (a.k.a. the Glover Cary Bridge), Owensboro, KY

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 01:30:06 GMT

Plans were to tear down this bridge, but local residents loudly protested, so the new bridge for U.S. 231 was built 13 miles upstream. But now Owensboro is debating whether to continue the annual tradition of closing the bridge one day for pedestrians, bicyclists and joggers only.

Every year since 1928, the American Institute of Steel Construction and the National Steel Bridge Alliance have both given out awards to steel bridge manufacturers, as a way to showcase the beauty of these magnificent structures.

When it was finished in 1940, the Owensboro Bridge across the Ohio River at Owensboro, Kentucky was entered into the contest as "most beautiful bridge in America." As breathtaking as it was, it came in second place, bested only by the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, built one year earlier across the Susquehanna River in Harford County, Maryland.

Also known locally as the "Blue Bridge," the Owensboro crossing was well talked-about among the locals before the first steel girder was riveted.

The two-lane Owensboro Bridge was built by the states of Kentucky and Indiana as a toll bridge (35 cents for automobiles; livestock, 5 cents per head) and is still standing. The toll was lifted in 1954, and here's a fun fact... Dr. Dan Griffith, a physician in Owensboro was the first motorist to pay a toll to cross the bridge when it opened in 1940. Ceremoniously, Dr. Griffith was also the last motorist to pay the fee, when tolls were removed from the bridge in 1954.

The Owensboro Bridge is an increasingly rare 17-panel, four-span, Warren continuous cantilevered riveted steel, through truss bridge, 4,622 feet long (the channel span itself is 751 feet long across the river current), with 33 Warren deck truss approaches on the Indiana side. It was built by the Hunter Steel Company, engineered by famed bridge builder Ralph Modjeski and his consulting company Modjeski and Masters. This bridge was one of his last projects... he passed away the year Owensboro was finished.

The bridge formerly carried U.S. Highway 231 across the river between its southern roots and the Midwest. When the new William Natcher Bridge was built upriver to carry busy Highway 231, the Owensboro Bridge was relegated to carry State Route 161 from Spencer County, IN across the Ohio to Daviess County, KY and the Owensboro city limits (at the state line on the north shore, the bridge becomes Daviess County Road 710). It's been repaved and painted several times to retain its famous blue color, a mandate of local residents.

One more fun fact... Although it was "dedicated to the memory of U.S. Congressman Glover Cary" in whose Kentucky district the bridge touches, the bridge itself is not named for him. Its official name is indeed the Owensboro Bridge.

Hiltons Gap - Holston River Bridge , Hiltons, VA

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:43:59 GMT

The Last Steel Truss Bridge on the Historic Daniel Boone Trail

Tucked into a quiet, meandering bend in the North Fork Holston River was the Hiltons Gap - Holston River Bridge, on the south end of Hiltons, Virginia in Scott County, VA.

According to federal highway records, the Bristol Highway from Gate City to Bristol was originally signed in 1926 as U.S. Highway 411. When improvements were made to the route, this new Holston River North Fork steel through truss bridge at Hiltons Gap was built in 1930, downriver from the first Bristol Highway bridge location in an upper bend off Lunsford Mill Road. With the new bridge on the other end of Lunsford Mill Road came a new route number: U.S. 421, which replaced 411 in 1932 and U.S. Highway 58 co-signed with 421 the next year.

The route and the bridge is on the original Daniel Boone Trail, one of which came down the valley from the northeast, headed to Cumberland Gap and up to the Kentucky River to what is now Boonesborough, KY.

This riveted Warren through truss bridge was built by the Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works (RIBW) Company of Roanoke, Virginia, a business that was probably better known for its work in penal systems. According to a brochure, the company touts its many successful years of building "fabricated tool-resisting and open hearth steel equipment for federal, state, municipal and county jails, prisons, prison camps and police stations" since 1900. The brochure mentions that RIBW supplied equipment to jails in Wise, Buchanan, and Washington Counties, VA; jails in Greene, Knox, and Sullivan Counties, TN, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County jail in North Carolina and the Women's Prison building at the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville, among other facilities.

Built in cooperation with the Virginia State Highway Commission, the entire bridge with approaches was 248

feet. The single-span Pratt-style through truss span was 143 feet long and despite a vertical clearance of 13.6 feet above the deck, the upper cross bars were hit several times by passing vehicles. Despite its historical context, the bridge was dismantled and replaced with a two-span steel stringer bridge in 2013, thereby erasing the history of the last modern steel truss bridge located on the Daniel Boone Trail from upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works built several other bridges, including the five-span Carico Bridge across the New River near Galax in Grayson County, Virginia. That bridge was torn down and replaced in 2011. Other RIBW bridges that survive are on U.S. 11 over the Shenandoah River at Mount Jackson, Virginia; on County Road 644 over Colliers Creek near Lexington, Virginia; and on the old Midland Trail over the Dunlap Creek west of Covington, Virginia.

The Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works Company filed for bankruptcy in the late 1980's and its assets eventually disbursed. The company that assumed some of those assets is still in business today, supplying jail and prison systems with iron works geared to security.

Huey P. Long Bridge, New Orleans, LA

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 21:57:48 GMT

This Spectacularly Heavy Bridge... is resting entirely on a bed of sand!

The massive Huey P. Long Bridge is a cantilevered, Warren-style through truss bridge across the Mississippi River, 10 river miles west of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Its cantilevers are a combination of Baltimore and Pennsylvania metal riveted through trusses, 36 in all. Finished in December of 1935, this crossing was originally built as a two-track railroad by the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific) and was the first bridge built at the lower end of the Mississippi River. Within a few years of its opening, the structure was widened to accommodate two lanes of U.S. Highway 90.

At the time of completion, the bridge was the longest railroad bridge in the world, and with approaches, it comes in at just under 22,996 feet long (4.35 miles). Its four spans are 2,375 feet long and the longest barge span is 790 feet across the middle of the river. There are three separate river channels that flow underneath the bridge. It is still considered the world's longest steel trestle railroad bridge, but the nearby Norfolk-Southern Lake Pontchartrain bridge at 30,264 feet long (5.7 miles) is the longest railroad bridge over water in the world.

The road length on the bridge is just over 8,000 feet, with gradual inclines on either side of the river.

Huey P. Long was governor of Louisiana until his assassination in 1935. This bridge is one of two in Louisiana named after him, the other located on U.S. 190 in Baton Rouge.

The Huey P. Long Bridge was built by the McClintic-Marshall Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the American Bridge Company of New York. It was designed by famed engineer Ralph Modjeski, designer of the McKinley Bridge in St. Louis, the Harahan Bridge in Memphis, and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia.

The Huey P. Long Bridge was built during a time when train and vehicular traffic often shared the same crossing. Bridges like the McKinley Bridge and the MacArthur Bridge both in St. Louis, the Harahan Bridge in Memphis, the Manhattan Bridge (also engineered by Ralph Modjeski), the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge in Cincinnati, and the Kentucky-Indiana Bridge in Louisville were all examples of original rail bridges, widened and modified years ago to give river communities their first vehicular traffic bridges.

The Huey P. Long bridge foundation is different from most substructures. Since normal bedrock is about 1,000 feet beneath the river bed at this location, the bridge supports are built on a fine sand mass that holds each pier in place. Stability of the piers is determined by the massive amount of steel and concrete, i.e. the sheer weight of the bridge holds it in place. About 17,000 tons of steel comprise the superstructure.

The bridge is owned by the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and carries two tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad across the river, along with U.S. 90 (expanded to six lanes in 2013) and its average of 37,000 vehicles per day.

Livermore Bridge, Livermore, KY

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 21:11:22 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

The Livermore Bridge at Livermore, Kentucky between Owensboro and Bowling Green reportedly made it into the old "Ripley's Believe It or Not" newspaper comic strip not because of its long length or an unusual design, but because of its route.

According to a highway marker on the south end of the bridge on U.S. Highway 431, the Livermore Bridge is said to be the only bridge in the world that starts in one county, crosses two rivers and a different county, then ends up back in the county in which it started.

Entering from the south side headed north at the beginning of the 1,644 foot long crossing, the bridge is in McLean County approaching the Green River on a deck truss bridge, then crosses that river on a 23.9 foot wide steel through truss, then on the steel stringer portion of the bridge, the bridge continues across a strip of land that's in neighboring Ohio County, then re-enters McLean County when it crosses the Rough River, ending in the town of Livermore. The county line boundaries are within the rivers. About 1,124 feet of the bridge is in both ends of McLean County, and about 520 feet of the still-elevated bridge lies in an extended corner of Ohio, thanks to the junction of the Green and the Rough Rivers.

The steel truss portion of the bridge over the Green River is a Warren (Camelback) with verticals through truss, 320 feet long with a 17.7 foot vertical clearance from road deck to beams.

The Livermore Bridge was built in 1939 by the Bethlehem Steel Company, the U.S. Public Works Administration and the Kentucky State Highway Department for $314,000. It replaced a ferry that operated on the site for years. Today, just over 6,000 vehicles use the bridge every day.

The Livermore Bridge is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Joseph Julian Henry (Airport Highway) Bridge, Sullivan County, TN

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:08:53 GMT

One of 12 K-panel Steel Through Trusses Built in East Tennessee

Airline passengers from Kingsport, Johnson City and points west that flew out of the Tri-Cities Airport at some point probably rode over this familiar green bridge on State Highway 75 (Airport Highway) near the Spurgeon community in northern Washington County. The bridge just inside the Sullivan County line was the first crossing of the South Fork Holston River in that area, and was built specifically to handle increased traffic to the airport.

More is probably known about the man that the former Airport Highway Bridge is named after, than the bridge itself.

According to Tennessee House Joint Resolution 162 filed on March 29, 2001, Joseph Julian Henry of Sullivan County served a year in the U.S. Army Infantry during World War I back in 1918, receiving an honorable discharge. 18 years after his return home, he disassembled a home he'd bought near the present-day Tri-Cities Airport in 1937, and moved it piece by piece to land that he owned near the site of a new huge, steel truss bridge being built over the South Fork Holston River. Back then, the river was free-flowing because none of the TVA dams in the area had been built yet. The two-lane bridge was completed and opened the next year in 1938.

Henry passed away in 1979. In 2001, the state of Tennessee honored both his memory and his military service by naming the bridge at his home, the "Joseph Julian Henry Memorial Bridge" to honor this Army infantry combat soldier.

The bridge was three riveted Parker through trusses (K-truss hybrids) and painted green---common with many Tennessee river bridges of the 1930's through the 50's. It also had two sub-divided, riveted Warren through trusses with raised polygonal top chords on either end of the Parkers. Built by the former Tennessee Highway Department, the bridge was 877 feet long, with the main channel span 180.1 feet long with a vertical clearance of 15 feet from deck to beams. During its heyday, the bridge carried between 7,000 and 8,000 cars and trucks per day across the river.

The bridge was deemed obsolete and each of the three channel spans was dynamited into the water during controlled demolitions in April of 2011. A new concrete stringer bridge was built right beside it and was also named the "Orville Depew 'Dick' Kitzmiller and Riley Lee Milhorn" Memorial Bridge.

According to Tennessee Senate legislative bill 814 dated May 19, 2011, PFC Kitzmiller, United States Marine Corps, who was also raised on and farmed land near the Airport Highway Bridge, made the ultimate sacrifice defending our country on the island of Guam in 1944 during World War II.

Milhorn's family owned ancestral land on the South Holston River south of the Airport Highway Bridge dating back to 1789, with Riley Milhorn farming that land, then moving downriver to property at the present bridge while working for the WPA and later the Holston Army Ammunition Plant during World War II.

William H. Murray Bridge (a.k.a Pony Bridge), Bridgeport, OK

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:47:45 GMT

One of Only a Few Bridges featured on the Silver Screen

The Bridgeport Bridge west of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is as much a part of American folklore as the historic highway it used to carry.

Built in 1933, the crossing near the small community of Bridgeport formerly carried U.S. Route 66 across the South Canadian River, as "America's Mother Road" carried people from the East, Midwest and South across the plains seeking better lives in California. The bridge, in fact, makes a brief appearance in the movie "The Grapes of Wrath" as Henry Fonda led his family like so many others in real life, west from Oklahoma to the Land of Milk and Honey.

The Bridgeport Bridge was built by the Kansas City Bridge Company of Kansas City, Missouri. The structure is unique in that it consists of 38 "camelback" pony truss spans, all built one right after the other and don't let the pictures fool you. It is not a short bridge... each of those spans is approximately 103.4 feet long. Total length, including two short concrete approach spans, is 3,944 feet, with only 125 feet of the bridge actually over the river channel. The rest of the bridge is over the floodplain that parallels the river.

38 trusses in all at almost 4,000 feet in length, Bridgeport is the longest single-span pony truss bridge in America and a signature Historic Route 66 bridge. With U.S. 66 decommissioned, the bridge now carries U.S. Highway 281. Known locally as the "Pony Bridge" because of its pony-style spans, it also holds the name "William H. Murray Bridge," named for the governor who built the crossing during Oklahoma's famed dust bowl days of the Great Depression.

The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December, 2020. Current plans call for a $22-million dollar renovation of the superstructure which will widen and strengthen it, but the iconic yellow steel pony trusses will remain, along with part of the original Route 66 pavement.

Thomas Bridge, Bluff City, TN

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 16:11:02 GMT

The Oldest Documented Steel Truss Bridge in upper East Tennessee

The Thomas Bridge is the oldest highway steel truss bridges still standing in upper East Tennessee.

Built in 1898 by the New Columbus Bridge Company of Columbus, Ohio, the Thomas Bridge crossing Beaver Creek in Sullivan County is a single-lane, Pratt steel through truss. It sits on two masonry abutments at the end of Old Thomas Bridge Road between Bluff City and Blountville, TN.

The span has pin-connected "eye bars" for stability (common to that time period) and is 171 feet long. The truss span also has decorative lace portals at either end.

At one point, the Thomas Bridge carried State Route 37 from Bluff City to Blountville. It was closed in 1971 when the new Highway 37 connector was built (now State Route 394) and a new steel stringer replacement bridge was built just up the creek. Although the Thomas Bridge deck is partially collapsed, the trusses are intact.

The historic Thomas Bridge is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

New River Gorge Bridge, Fayetteville, WV

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:46:10 GMT

The Highest Vehicular Bridge in the Eastern United States

The New River Gorge Bridge is a 3,030 foot long continuous steel truss arch bridge built in three years (1974 to 1977) by the American Bridge division of U.S. Steel. The steel arch itself measures 1,700 feet long. Total cost was $37 million dollars ($124 million in today's dollars) and it weighs 88 million pounds.

According to the National Park Service, the arching structure is made of USS COR-TEN B steel to ensure its weld points age at the same time as the rest of the steel framework. The bridge is resting on two concrete piers built into the side of the canyon, and because of the winds that whip through the gorge, the bridge actually "moves" slightly to adjust to winds and traffic.

For 26 years, the New River Gorge Bridge held the title of "longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world;" as of 2021, it is now the 5th longest. At 876 feet above the riverbed, it is the highest vehicular bridge in the eastern United States, and the third highest in the country after Colorado's Royal Gorge Bridge and the O'Callaghan-Tillman Bridge at Hoover Dam.

The New River Gorge Bridge was built as part of Corridor "L" in the Appalachian Development Highway system of promoting economic development in isolated areas of Appalachia (by the way, Corridor "B" is U.S. 23 from Asheville north through Kingsport, SW Virginia and eastern Kentucky, ending at Lucasville, Ohio).

U.S. 19 once traveled down the canyon walls to cross the river on a still-existing bridge.. the trip down and back up took about 45 minutes. The new bridge cut the trip down to less than one minute.

The New River Gorge Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and the biggest fun fact about it is that every October, Bridge Day is hosted by the nearby community when, on one day out of the year, parachutists can jump off the bridge legally.

Another fun fact... because it's too corrosive, the West Virginia Department of Highways does not use salt on the bridge during icy conditions. Maintenance crews use calcium magnesium with a potassium acetate, which they feel is more environmentally friendly.

Irwin S. Cobb (Brookport) Bridge, Brookport, IL - Paducah, KY

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:00:40 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

The Paducah-Ohio River Bridge (officially, the Irvin S. Cobb Bridge), on U.S. Highway 45, crossing at Mile Marker 937 of the Ohio River between Brookport, IL and Paducah, KY. Built in 1929 by the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company of Milwaukee, WI and the Union Bridge and Construction Company of Kansas City, MO.

This spetacular bridge is 5,387 feet long, and consists of 10 steel truss spans (one Parker through truss 718 feet long, 9 subdivided polygonal Warren "camelback" through trusses, 3 Warren through pony trusses and 4 Warren deck trusses). All the trusses are riveted.

The road deck consists of see-through iron grating, suspended approximately 80 to 90 feet above the river. At its last inspection (2018), the Irwin S. Cobb Bridge rated "fair" by the Bridge Maintenance Division of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The 92-year old bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and is still in use, but because the two-lane width is only 19.7 feet, 18-wheelers and farm machinery are prohibited from using it. Maximum vehicle speed is 25 M.P.H and at that speed, it takes about 2 minutes to cross from one shore to the other.

Your author was invited on a personal visual inspection in the spring of 2023 with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers and inspectors. While the bridge was closed to traffic, I accompanied those inspectors with video on the bridge, through the bridge, on top of the bridge and under the bridge, looking for tell-tale signs of wear and tear, 90 feet above a flooded Ohio River. That video story will be posted in the STORIES link of this website.

Glazes Ford-Smith Bridge, Chucky, TN

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 15:05:40 GMT

Glazes Ford Bridge, Chucky, TN

The Glaze's Ford Bridge was Built in 1901 at Glaze's Ford of the Nolichucky River by low bidder Southern Bridge Company of Birmingham, Alabama at a cost of $7,850.

The bridge is 226 feet long resting on three masonry piers (steel column abutments) and is still with us today, but closed to traffic. Two of the spans are full size Pratt-style steel trusses that are pin-connected, and the smaller one is a riveted Pratt-style "pony" truss.

Two things make this bridge special. Instead of building a curve into the north shore truss, the builders simply attached a pony truss to achieve a needed 75-degree curve at the northern road approach.

The second interesting fact of this bridge is that it was abandoned by Washington County when a new modern bridge upriver replaced it in 1983. Noting its historical significance but not having enough money to maintain it, the county offered the bridge to the homeowner on the hill at the north end of the structure who took possession of it to preserve it.

Imagine this landowner property tax list: one large home, a smaller building, three barns, a grain silo, one historic three-span steel truss bridge....

WEAVER`S BEND LOWER TWIN BRIDGE

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 20:46:08 GMT

The Weaver's Bend - Lower Twin Bridge, the second of two Norfolk-Southern Railroad bridges over the French Broad River on the S-Line just before the Tennessee-North Carolina state line from Newport to Hot Springs, NC. This is bridge number two across the French Broad between Morristown Junction and Asheville, NC. The bridge built in 1927 by the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company consists of four spans, all of them Baltimore through trusses (one of only two bridges in the Baltimore truss style in Tennessee). Each span is 110 feet long, and are all positively skewed 30% because of the bridge approach to the curves of the riverbanks. Total length is 541 feet. An examination of the piers in the river shows the newer concrete supports this bridge is on are attached to the older stone piers, indicating this current bridge was the stronger replacement of the original bridge on the old stone-layered supports. That original one built in the early 1880's connected the old East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, and the Western North Carolina Railroad.

ONE OF NORTH DAKOTA`S MOST SPECTACULAR BRIDGES

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 20:52:29 GMT

Hi Calvin, I share your love of bridge's architecture. I am a lifelong resident of Hayesville NC but I recently relocated to Western North Dakota and have visited Fairview liftbridge and tunnel and a few more. I am attaching a link for a few.... https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/landmark/fairview-bridge.html

I know you love first-light pictures sir but ND sunsets are unbelievable. Please consider coming here and adding these pieces of history to your books before they are no more. Thank you for your time and consideration.... Apryl Swanson

THE GHOSTS OF HELEN`S BRIDGE

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:56:06 GMT

"THE GATES OF HELL": BOILING SPRINGS ROAD BRIDGE

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:54:34 GMT

OLD STONE FORT

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:59:17 GMT

A few week s back I visited Old Stone Fort State Park in Manchester Tennessee. I spent my summers in this park since my grandparents lived adjacent to it.

I remember when this bridge was placed over the Duck River. It came from the Elk River. Interesting about that is my father hung out on this bridge when he was young since they lived on the Elk river. One of my older cousins crashed his car into the bridge when it was on the Elk River so one of the dents is his.

Greg Pearson, Chattanooga, TN

A MAN, HIS BANJO AND A BRIDGE

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:00:31 GMT

Big beautiful Shelby Street Walking Bridge, downtown Nashville. In the middle of the walkers, I find Kelly Fox strumming a homemade banjo against the backdrop of downtown, and folks were putting money in his cup. What a great use for an elegant old bridge. Way to go, Music City USA!

WELCOMED TO DADE COUNTY, GEORGIA

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:02:04 GMT

When I showed up to this homemade cable-stayed bridge on Meeks Road in Dade County, GA, all of a sudden, here comes the welcoming committee... this big dog comes running up on the bridge, barking his fool head off. I got dogs at home, so I yelled at him “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” He immediately sat down. I guess he’s heard it before LOL. I quickly grabbed his picture.

A HIKE WITH THE MOSQUITOS

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 21:03:40 GMT

Spectacular Camelback Steel Truss spans and drawbridge on the CSX Railroad over the Tennessee River at New Johnsonville, TN. To get this pic, I had to park and hike 2 miles up the road to the bridges in the 2nd picture, with the Tennessee River on one side of the road and a swamp on the other and the temperature 92 degrees. Every 20 feet, I ran into a swarm of mosquitoes and bugs. As soon as I outran them, I’d run into another swarm. Bug spray did not work..... I think they drink Raid as cocktails.