Industrial History: 1917,1965,1997 Detroit-Superior (Veterans Memorial) Bridge over Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite, 3D Satellite)

This bridge was proceeded by the 1878 Superior Viaduct.

This 1917 bridge was the first bridge in Cleveland that did not have a movable span. [Bob Edwards Facebook comment]

By LeeG7144 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The 6 streetcar tracks on the lower deck were abandoned in 1955.

OBLIQUE VIEW - Detroit Superior High Level Bridge, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH
Library of Congress: HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,22--28 (CT)

"Significance: The Detroit-Superior High Level Bridge is a combination reinforced-concrete and steel structure with a total length of 2,880 feet[880m]. The double-deck bridge was designed to carry four lanes of traffic on the upper roadway and six street railway tracks on the lower deck. The center span over the river was a 591-foot [180m] three-hinged steel arch of Pratt truss design. At the time of its completion in 1917, the Detroit-Superior Bridge held the record as the third longest steel arch in the country. The bridge also received attention for its unusual subway approaches beneath the streets at each end of the bridge. The lower streetcar deck was abandoned in 1955." [HAER_data]

The 1917 bridge was designed by J. A. L. Waddell. I recognize him as the pioneer of the lift bridge design starting with the 1894 Halsted Bridge in Chicago, IL. He also did pioneering work with reinforced concrete bridges in the 1915 12th Street Trafficway Viaduct in Kansas City, MO. And the 591' nickel-steel arch of this bridge shows he added steel arches to his design repertoire. [ahr-kc]

Thomas Wentzel posted
Cleveland, Ohio. Detroit-Superior Bridge shot from old Superior Viaduct, circa 1920.

Feb 2017 Photo by Douglas Butler via BridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
[It is framed by the Detroit-Superior Bridge and a flour mill is in the background. The Center Street Bridge is in the foreground.]

Rust & Dirt: NW Pennsylvania History posted

Roy Nagy: High-level Bridge aka Detroit-Superior Bridge with Superior Viaduct on this side of it.

Douglas Butler shared
Detroit Superior Viaduct Swing Span Bridge is now gone Rust & Dirt: NW Pennsylvania History.

Richard Wagner posted
Detroit-Superior Bridge looking north in the 1930s. Note the trolly in the lower level.
Terrence Kilbane: Always called it the High Level Bridge.
Bob Edwards: It was called the high level because it replaced the lower level Superior Viaduct seen behind it. At the time all of the lower level bridges needed a swing or lift section to allow ship traffic on the river. That really jammed up traffic.
Thomas Wintzel shared

Facebook Reel

Bridges Now and Then posted
Building the Detroit-Superior Bridge, Cleveland, Ohio, c. 1915. (Cleveland Memory Project)

Richard Wagner posted
The Detroit-Superior Bridge under construction in 1915.
“An engineering feat rivaling the great Pyramids of Egypt “so said Cleveland mayor Newton D. Baker at the time.

Bridges Now and Then posted
Building Cleveland, Ohio's Detroit-Superior (Veterans' Memorial) Bridge, November 1, 1915. (WRHS)

Bill Barrow: The CSU library sells a book with hundreds of images about the bridge, including shots like this. https://share.google/ofwXAvvoEDQFBg4I1

David Laurence posted
Scanning some old photographs I inherited. This is Cleveland in 1928 looking to the west direction at the Detroit-Superior bridge with street cars emerging from under the bridge in front of the buildings. The buildings on the right still exist and the piers on the upper left still exist as they hold up the tracks to what we know as the RTA Rapid Transit Train.

Craig Maurer: Shows the "natural" line of the river valley bluffs. So much has changed over the years!

Bob Stack commented on David's post
Terminal Tower completed, but still working on railroad access to the CUT !

Eric Mortensen posted
The Buffalo heading up river on the Cuyahoga this afternoon.

Thom Sheridan posted
Cleveland Skyline from the Viaduct, 1983
Roy Nagy: Lower right…Center Street Swing Bridge…built 1901. It is hard to believe you can still drive over a 120 year old bridge in the heart of the city.
[According to the comments, the B&O bridge was abandoned a year later.]
Jim Arc shared

A view that includes all of Center Street Swing Bridge.

North Coast Aerial Images posted

Sam Laud

August 2025

Mike Pinzone shared

Thomas Wentzel shared a post by Edward Beerer of two photos with the comment: "Two photos of Detroit Superior bridge. Under construction, and when the trolley cars ran on the lower deck."

Thomas Wentzel posted
Cleveland, Ohio. Detroit-Superior Bridge shot from old Superior Viaduct, circa 1920.
[Note the flour mill in the background.]

Interlake Steamship Company posted

*Where industry, innovation and infrastructure meet*

At the center of it all, our M/V Mark W. Barker, a ship built for the future, navigating the crooked Cuyahoga River winding through our great city on a great lake.

📸: Lance Aerial Media

Randy Matheson: I saw this boat for the first time the other day in the soo. I was surprised how small it was. Now I see why.
Linda Gaeth Boldyreff: Does the Cuyahoga rate as one of the most challenging to navigate? The videos I've seen of ships navigating it sure seem so.
Dave Wagner: All Great Lakes Captain’s are also licensed pilots most are licensed all the way out to the mouth of the seaway some are also licensed for some areas of the Atlantic coast , so unlike foreign ships pilots are already on board.
Terri Hoag: Amazing picture! I didn’t realize how crooked the Cuyahoga River was!
Andrew Klatt: Terri Hoag Cuyahoga translates from a variety of Native American languages to “crooked”. It’s named accordingly 👍🏻
Janey Anderson shared
Darryl Harper: Why ships of that length are called "river class" with a length of about 640'. Ship was built because U.S. flagged fleets had scrapped or sold almost all ships of that size. Several were sold to LLT which specialized in river class; though only named ship Cuyahoga and Saginaw left, both former U.S. flagged fleet ships.
Algoma has built quite a few 640' footers, two with designs like the new Barker (Innovator and Integrity).
These largely replaced earlier scrapped ships.
James Torgeson shared
The nearly new 639’ Mark W. Barker (2022) is working the ore shuttle on the serpentine Cuyahoga River from Whiskey Island to the Cliffs Cleveland Works.


safe_image for Could Veterans Memorial Bridge Become Cleveland's 'Low Line'? The Detroit Superior Bridge circa 1930. Cleveland Historical “Completed in 1917, with a final cost of $5.3 million ($122 million in 2023), the Detroit-Superior Bridge, as it was then known, was the city's first fixed, high-level bridge.”

Mr. P. Explores posted 16 images with the comment:

Few structures are as uniquely Cleveland as the Detroit-Superior Bridge (renamed the Veterans Memorial Bridge in 1981 to honor military veterans). Stretching across the Cuyahoga River between downtown Cleveland and Ohio City, the massive steel arch bridge opened in 1918 after years of planning aimed at improving transportation and easing congestion on the city's older crossings. Designed by noted bridge engineer Wilbur J. Watson, the bridge was an ambitious project for its time, combining beauty, utility, and engineering innovation into one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.
The bridge spans nearly 3,100 feet [945m] and rises dramatically above the Flats, providing spectacular views of the river valley and industrial landscape below. Its graceful steel arches and reinforced concrete construction reflected the City Beautiful movement that influenced much of Cleveland's civic architecture during the early twentieth century. Decorative details, monumental proportions, and carefully designed approaches made the bridge more than a transportation project; it was intended as a symbol of a growing and prosperous industrial city.
One of the bridge's most fascinating features lies beneath the roadway. The lower deck was specifically designed to carry streetcars between downtown Cleveland and the west side. For decades, electric streetcars rattled through the enclosed lower level, transporting workers, shoppers, and commuters across the river. At the time, Cleveland possessed one of the largest and busiest streetcar systems in the nation, and the bridge was built with public transit in mind from the very beginning.
The end of streetcar service came in 1954 as Cleveland, like many American cities, shifted toward buses and automobiles. Maintaining the aging streetcar infrastructure became increasingly expensive, ridership declined after World War II, and city planners embraced the automobile-focused transportation policies that swept the country during the postwar era. When the streetcars disappeared, the lower deck was largely sealed off and forgotten by much of the public.
For decades, the hidden lower level sat in near darkness beneath the traffic above, becoming something of an urban legend among Clevelanders. Many people drove across the bridge their entire lives without realizing another level existed beneath them. In recent years, however, Cuyahoga County has embraced the bridge's historic significance. Each year, usually during a special public event, the county opens the lower deck to visitors, allowing thousands of people to walk through the cavernous former streetcar tunnels and experience a part of Cleveland history that is normally inaccessible. The event offers stunning views of the Flats, the river, the industrial valley, and downtown's skyline while providing a rare glimpse into the city's lost transit era.
Today, the Detroit-Superior Bridge remains one of Cleveland's most beloved engineering landmarks. More than a century after it opened, it still carries traffic high above the Cuyahoga River while preserving a hidden reminder of a time when streetcars connected the neighborhoods of a booming industrial city. Its soaring arches have witnessed the rise of the steel industry, the decline of the Rust Belt, urban renewal, and Cleveland's continuing reinvention; standing watch over it all from one of the best vantage points in the city.
Just yesterday [Jun 27, 2026] was the aforementioned yearly event thrown by Cuyahoga County, and I was able to walk the bridge to document the many nooks and crannies that exist below the main street deck. While the crowds were thronging throughout the day, I was able to get some clean shots of different portions of the bridge. Next year, if you're in Cleveland and you've never checked out this outstanding piece of Northeast Ohio history, I highly suggest you do so! Enjoy the set and have a wonderful Sunday out there! -Mr. P.
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