Saturday, August 21, 2021

1839+1893,1987+? US-40 Bridges over Ohio River between Bridgeport, OH and Wheeling, WV

1839: (Bridge Hunter)
1893: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite east abutment is just north of the new bridge)
?: (Satellite) I can't find a date for this bridge. The truss bridge was blown up on Sep 12, 2011.

Donnie Eubaznk posted
I imagine most of you have never seen the Ohio River DRIED UP ! Here''s a pic from the drought of October 15, 1908. View is from the W. Va. side looking across to Bridgeport, Ohio.

Cindy Pollard shared
The river was more shallow back then, but it's still mind blowing!
Ed Durrett: This is not the main channel of the Ohio. It's the chute behind Wheeling Island, WV. Notice the waterline on the bridge piers is only 4 or 5 feet high.
Glenna Hoff: My grandfather talked about driving a car across the Ohio when it dried up. He grew up, as he would say, 30 mile below Parkersburg.
Terry Sheets: I hear of this occasion I've seen it at 10 feet in Cincinnati.
Eddy Hook: I've seen them loose the pool at 52 in paducah on the Ohio it didn't get this low but I walked across the Tennessee river at Calvert city it got crazy low.
Thomas Kortz: Yes sir Eddie. You got to losing my pool with lot 52 would be devastating up for Tennessee River, all the way to smithland lock.
Tommy Kincy: Havent seen ohio dry. But at Dyer Ar. We walked across the Arkansas River up until late 60's.
Thomas Kortz: It's a little bit before my time but oh my gosh it's amazing. I've never ever seen the Ohio River like that. I have seen the Monongahela River up at Rice's landing, old rock 6. You could walk across it I remember. Amazing amazing.

This was a popular photo. Probably more than one postcard manufacture used it.
Old Postcard via BridgeHunter-1893

The 1893 wrought iron bridge replaced an 1839 covered wooden bridge.
Via BridgeHunter-1839
This photograph was taken on Wheeling Island looking over the back channel of the Ohio River towards Bridgeport.
Columbus Metropolitan Library; Ohio Transportation Collection
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)
"The old wooden covered bridge on the National Road (Route 40) between Bridgeport, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia. The bridge was built in 1839 and remained in service until 1893 when a new steel bridge was constructed around the old wooden one at a cost of $65,974.04. This was around the same time that the horse cars were replaced with electric cars. (Photo description by Ohio Transportation Collection)"

The replacement bridge.
Street View

HAER WVA,35-WHEEL,5-, cropped
4. VIEW NORTHWEST, TOWARD OHIO - Bridgeport Bridge, Spanning West Channel of Ohio River, U.S. Route 40, Wheeling, Ohio County, WV Photos from Survey HAER WV-25

Built in 1893, the Bridgeport Bridge represented one type of bridges which could be ordered from catalogues at the end of the nineteenth century. Except for the replacement of the partially wooden roadway surface with steel grating in 1950, the bridge remained basically unchanged.

Because the floor beams had become structurally unsound, a new, self-supporting, load-bearing deck structure was installed inside the trusses of the Bridgeport Bridge in 1987. Designed as a temporary means of carrying traffic unti1 a new vehicular bridge is built, the deck installed was prefabricated in England and is a modern-day successor to the Bailey bridge type. Current plans call for the building of a new vehicular bridge upstream. The Bridgeport bridge will remain as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. 

HAER WVA,35-WHEEL,5-
5. VIEW SOUTHEAST, I-70 IN BACKGROUND - Bridgeport Bridge, Spanning West Channel of Ohio River, U.S. Route 40, Wheeling, Ohio County, WV Photos from Survey HAER WV-25



HAER-captions, p6, rotated

Gallery, 1 of 2

Gallery, 2 of 2

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