1903+1992 Williamstown-Marietta Bridges over Ohio River

1903: (Bridge Hunter; HAER)

1992: (Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

This bridge is another example of cantilever bridges that are replaced in the 1990s are replaced with truss bridges whereas those replaced in the 2000s use cable-stayed bridges.

"The Williamstown-Marietta Bridge was the first highway bridge in the United States built in a cantilever fashion over an inland river." Because it was in such bad shape, it was closed to all traffic on July 17, 1985. [HAER-data] Note that the replacement wasn't available until 1992.

Boston Public Library Flickr via Bridge Hunter-1903, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

HAER WVA,54-WILTO,1--4
4. View of main truss span, looking northwest, with Marietta proper in background - Williamstown-Marietta Bridge, Spanning Ohio River between Williamstown & Marietta, Williamstown, Wood County, WV

HAER WVA,54-WILTO,1--7
7. View of suspended truss, as seen from Ohio Street in Marietta, looking southwest

Luciferion Evangeliaros posted

Confluence of the Ohio & Muskingum, Marietta, 1905.

When the mouth of the Muskingum River froze over, as it did here in February 1905, citizens could skate from the west banks of the Harmar district to downtown Marietta. 

Pictured here in the foreground and background are the two ways folks traveled across the Ohio River between Marietta and Williamstown, West Virginia for more than a century. The Pioneer City was a ferryboat built in 1891 to serve the two communities, but the completion of the Williamstown Bridge in 1903 had recently sent the boat into retirement. The first inland cantilever highway bridge in the country connected the two towns until it was replaced by the current Williamstown Bridge in 1992. The Pioneer City was sold nine months after this photo, recommissioned as Central City, and served other communities downriver on the Ohio until it was largely recycled for the construction of the Augusta in 1923.

Along the east bank is The Kanawha, a sternwheeler taking shelter along its regular packet route between Pittsburgh and Charleston. The tower visible beyond the A. T. Nye Stove foundry is the stately Bellevue Hotel. Built in 1892 on the present-day site of the Lafayette Hotel, the Bellevue featured 56-rooms, a second-floor restaurant, five sample rooms (where traveling salesmen could display their wares) and a barbershop. Eleven years after this photo was taken both The Kanawha and The Bellevue would meet tragic ends, but those are worthy of their own stories for another day.

This illustrates why it is so important that cantilever bridges allow the bridge to be built over the navigation channel without any falsework. Not too many boats could pass through that falsework.

HAER WVA,54-WILTO,1--71
71. Falsework between piers 3 and 4 Photographer unknown, 1902

Back then, they did not use big cranes on barges like they do today, they used custom-built, travelling gantries.

HAER WVA,54-WILTO,1--72
72. Bridge under construction, showing truss work at piers 4 and 5 Photographer unknown, 1902

HAER WVA,54-WILTO,1--73
73. "Closing the Cap". Photographer unknown, 1903

Jeff Strahler, Jul 2018

William Reynold shared his post
She was hugging the bank I could have jumped on deck. Down bound under Williamstown bridge.
William Reynolds: She was trying to avoid the Marietta College Crew who were crossing the river to start up the Muskingum. Good move Capt.

A.G. Bertin posted two photos with the comment: "From September 2020, here are a couple photos I took of the other bridge that crosses the Ohio River between Williamstown WV and Marietta OH. (Yesterday I posted a photo of the I-77 bridge.)"

1

2

1 of 3 photos posted by Neale Marine Transportation & Fleeting LLC
Nice big tow out ahead of the CAPT. RICK NEALE today as she heads upriver past Marietta, OH. This tow of barges will be loaded with more than 6 million gallons of oil products, which will be refined and in your gas tanks very soon!
William Stewart: Good to see the old Humprey out running again. Some old shipyard guys at Neville Island told me best boat they ever built.

Anonymous comment on Bridge Hunter-1992
[It appears C.J. Mahan redesigned their web site since this photo was accessed because I was not able to find any info concerning this project.]