1947 Washington Ave. Bridge over Wheeling Creek in Wheeling, WV, Collapsed During Demolition on Jan 7, 2026

(no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Wheeling, WV Fire Department posted three photos with the comment: "Around 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7, Wheeling Fire and Police, Ohio County Sheriff’s Office, Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management Agency and other agencies responded to the collapse of the Washington Avenue Bridge over Wheeling Creek. Contractors were in the process of demolishing the bridge, which had been closed since early December, when the incident occurred. Three workers were on the bridge at the time of the collapse and fell into the waterway. Two sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while a third suffered a serious injury. All were conscious and transported to Wheeling Hospital for medical evaluation. Emergency crews cleared the scene by approximately 3 p.m. and turned the area back over to the contractor."

Alex Christopher: Charles J. Merlo out of PA is the contractor. He won the bid at $5.3 million.

Johnny Dobbs shared

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WTOV NEWS9

Ohio Valley Sirens and Shenanigans posted

Wheeling WV

WASHINGTON AVE BRIDGE HAS COLLAPSED 

1:47p.m 1/7/26

Report of equipment in the creek. 3 people with injuries. 

The Bridge has been closed for a month, construction was taking place.

📸 Provided by Gunner Thompson

The Times Leader posted
Three workers from a demolition crew were injured Wednesday afternoon when the Washington Avenue Bridge collapsed into Wheeling Creek while they were working to dismantle the bridge deck. See story here: https://tinyurl.com/bdeewdf7 [paycount of 3]
"Built in 1947, the Washington Avenue Bridge was a floating-cantilever style span."

Claire O’Neil - WTOV News9 posted six photos with the comment:

WASHINGTON AVENUE BRIDGE COLLAPSE—

First responders responded to the collapse around 1:40pm to a collapse. Local residents heard a loud noise.

According to the Wheeling Police Department, three individuals that were working on top of the bridge were injured during the collapse and have been taken to the hospital. One serious injury and two minor injuries, but all non-life threatening.

DOH, DEP, and local contractors are on scene now to detect what to do next.

More tonight at 5pm.

Photos by Mechelle Robinson.

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1925,1983 Hilliard Road Bridge over Rocky Road

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Brian Jules posted eight photos with the comment: "Rocky River Ohio with the 1925 Hillard rd concrete open arch spandrel bridge across the valley. The bridge has been dutifully spanning the Rocky River valley for one hundred years. The bridge had a major renovation from 1980-1983 with the deck replaced as well. Sadly continued  high maintenance and rebuild cost has forced this bridge to be replaced in the near future."

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Street View, May 2024

HistoricBridges
The bridge is 860' (272m) long with a main span of 220' (67m).
There are plans for demolition and replacement.

Bridges of Metropolitan Cleveland via BridgeHunter

1922-79 North Hill Viaduct and All American Bridge over Little Cuyahoga River in Akron, OH

Viaduct: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges) 

Bridge: (Satellite)

Boston Public Library Flickr via ArchivedBridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

Michael Gearhart posted
A different image of the North Main Street Viaduct, looking south toward downtown Akron. The large round structure was on property belonging to East Ohio Gas. The church just in front of it was Holy Cross Church on East Lods Street. All of these houses would eventually be replaced by the Elizabeth Park housing project.

Bryan Porter: This was either late 20's or the 30's. The original Beech st. power plant is in the picture. The new one was built in the early 40's in stages and I don't see it. Very cool picture of Akron when we were a good productive city.

Cat Bartlett: I was there in 1976 when the demolition of the Viaduct bridge began. My uncle even had one of the streetlights from the bridge!

Vince Nicklin posted
 believe this was taken from St. Thomas in 1978. Just before the viaduct demolition.

Street View, May 2024

Erie Canal Aqueduct over Otsquago Creek in Fort Plain, NY, Destroyed by flood in 1981

Lost Aqueduct: (Satellite)

1931 Otsquago Creek Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

Joel Torres posted two photos with the comment:

The Fort Plain Aqueduct was destroyed by flooding in October 1981😢

Fort Plain,N.Y.

Darren Bellen: If i remember correctly , it wasn't actually an aqueduct it was the tow path bridge ?

Noel Ramage: Darren Bellen both. What you could walk across was the tow path bridge but on the other side(from the perspective of the photo) are the support trusts that held the wooden aqueduct runway. Both parts make up an aqueduct, only the stone remains on all but one (Camillius Aqueduct is fully restored and rewatered.) I have lived in Palmyra for most of my life where we have one as well and didn't learn this until my early 30s. Pretty amazing how little I learned about the canal in school. Grew up fishing the off/under aqueduct, driving by it every day and didn't understand what it was until a few years ago when joining this group. The Palmyra Aqueduct's middle two trusts are starting to settle and sink and I fear this same situation is soon to happen if nothing is done to restore it.

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Jeff Miller commented on Joel's post
The footers are still there…
[As is typical with Facebook comments, he didn't bother to give a location.]

Jeff Miller commented on Joel's post
A little foundation is left as well…
[I can see the footings in the water, but I could not find this bridge. It is not today's trail bridge.]

Dennis DeBruler: Jeff Miller Where is this bridge? I have ruled out the trail bridge and the Hancock Street Bridge.

Be warned, I was confused as to how the canal crossed Otsquago Creek when I studied the Erie Canal in Fort Plain. Now that I have more information, I was confused for a long time because I thought we were looking downstream in the following photo since the middle arches have been pushed back and there is a tree trunk lodged against the aqueduct. But Geoff's bridge photo and street view below taught me that we are looking upstream. (I'm still assuming that Otsquago Creek flows East into the Mohawk River.) Another source of my confusion is that the 1898 topo map shows the canal paralleling Canal Street across the creek. I now think it angled east from today's Legion Street just a little south of River Street.

Back in the days of the canal, it was Canal Street, not Legion Street, that crossed the creek.

1898/1954 Canajoharie Quad via Dennis DeBruler

2021 photo by Geoff Hubbs via BridgeHunter

This house that is in both of Joe's photos at the top of these notes is on the south side of the bridge.

Street View, Oct 2024

The next available topo map shows the 1931 Hancock Street Bridge. But it makes the aqueduct look like the State Street road bridge.

1944/53 Canajoharie Quad @ 24,000

I started out with this aerial photo because it was supposed to have a better resolution.

Sep 23, 1958 @ 25,000; ARA550500131112

But it did not look very good, so I got the other available aerial. It looks better. Given the diagonal treeline on the north side of the aqueduct, I think the canal angled over until it got to today's Legion Street and then it went through town parallel to Canal Street.

Oct 21, 1959 @ 60,000; ARB593500800779

This tree line on the north side of town and...

Satellite
Lock E15 is part of today's Barge Canal.

...these topo maps indicate that the canal went behind the buildings on the east side of Canal Street.

1944 Fort Plain and Canajoharie Quads @ 24,000

So this is my current theory as to how the canal went through the town.

Satellite plus Paint

1932 Erie Canal Jordan Aqueduct over Skaneateles River in Jordan, NY

(Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

Street View, Apr 2023

Jules Hoepting, Feb 2024

Jules Hoepting, Feb 2024

1900/00 Baldwinsville Quad @ 62,500

Joel Torres posted two photos and a video with the comment:

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Maureen J. Doyle commented on Joel's post
Here is the Jordan Aqueduct over Skaneateles Creek. 

US-66 (Route 66), US-20 and US-40 (National Road) Overviews

I went to add the following US-20 overview to the US-66 overview, but discovered I don't have an overview for Route 66. (I do have an overview for US-30 (Lincoln Highway).)

20 Overview Link

40 Overview Link

Route 66 is also called the Mother Road.

route66-map

The alignments are color coded:

Red = oldest alignments. 20’s – 30’s

Brown = 30’s – 40’s

Green = 40’s – 50’s

"The last alignments were Interstates and are not drawn on the map."

The route66-map is interactive. For example:

Digitally Zoomed

"Route 66 had its official beginnings in 1926 when the Bureau of Public Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system....Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced U.S. 66 over the next three decades [1960-89]. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains. The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road." [nps]

Features along US-66 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• Ogden (Laramie) Avenue Overpass (Bridge) for BNSF/BN/CB&Q in Cicero, IL
• Joliet Road across McCook Quarry (see the satellite image with the red line below.)
• Joliet, IL: Hill-Top (Route 66) Drive-In Movie Theater
• Wilmington, IL: Gemini Giant and Dino (Historic US-66)
• IL-53 (Historic US-66) over Kankakee River in Wilmington, IL
• Dwight, IL: Old Texaco Gas Station
• Cayuga, IL
• Pontiac, IL: Old Route 66 Gas
• Towanda, IL: GM&O/C&A Depot and Wood Grain Elevator on US-66
• Normal, IL: Old Cities Service Gas Station
• Atlanta, IL: J.H. Hawes Preserved Wood Grain Elevator and American Giants/US-66 Texaco Station
• Lincoln, IL: C&A Depot & Freight House, US-66 Gas Station, Mill Museum and Largest Rail Splitter
• Litchfield, IL: North and Winston Junction Towers
• Macoupin C: Staunton, IL: Consolidated Mines 1881-1952 #7 and 1904-23 #14
• 1910 McKinley Bridge over the Mississippi River at St Louis+Venice, carried the designation during 1926-1930
• 1929 Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi river north of St. Louis, carried the designation during 1930-55
• St. Louis, MO: 1915 World's Largest Filtration Plant When Built
• MacArthur Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis, IL, this also carried the route during 1929-66. The vehicle deck closed in 1981.
• 1967 Poplar Street Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis, carried the designation during 1967-77
• St. Louis, MO: Purina Chow Headquarters
• Kirkwood, MO: 1893 Amtrak/Missouri Pacific Depot next to Old Route 66
• Closed US-66 Bridge over Meramec River at Eureka, MO
• Eureka, MO: Rock City Cafe on Route 66 & Conoco Gas Pumps
• Cuba, MO: Lost Bob's Gasolene Alley celebrated US-66
• 1928+1997 US-66 "Branch" Bridge over Gasconade River near Jerome, MO
• 1924-2014 Aban/US-66 over Gasconade River near Hazlegreen, MO
• Joplin, MO: 1911 Dilapidated/(KCS+MKT) Union Station
• 1923 Route 66 Rainbow Bridge over Brush Creek near Baxter Springs, KS
• Baxter Springs, KS: 1930 Phillips 66 Gas Station and Route 66 Visitors Center
• 1936-2011+1957 OK-66/US-66 over Bird Creek (Verdigris River) near Catoosa, OK
• 1933 US-281 (Originally US-66) Pony Bridges over South Canadian River near Bridgeport, OK
• Hydro, OK: 1929 Historic Route 66 Gas Pumps
• 1930 US-66 Pony Truss Bridge saved in a Roadside Park in Hydro, OK
• Shamrock, TX: 1929 US-66 Mobil Gas Station & Old Fire Truck
• 1915 Old US-66 Canyon Diablo Bridge near Two Guns, AZ
• Flagstaff, AZ: 1889+1926 (Amtrak+Museum)/Santa Fe Depot on US-66
• Williams, AZ: Pete's Route 66 Gas Station Museum
• Hackberry, AZ: Another Route 66 museum with old gas pumps
• Needles, CA: Historic US-66
• Barstow, CA: Santa Fe Railyard & Depot and US-66 Museum

Illinois has a lot of tourist information concerning the route. The have brochures in German, Mandarin and Japanese as well as English. This is a page from their maps pdf.

pdf, p2 via IllinoisRoute66

This is an excerpt from the English brochure.

IllinoisRoute66_english

nps_000
[The nps has a lot of information. Unfortunately, I started getting "can't be reached" error messages before I could look at most of the webpages. I could still access any non-nps webpage.]

I knew that Route 66 used to use Joliet Road through some of the western suburbs of Chicago. But I didn't know how it got from Ogden down to Joliet Road. I see that Google Maps now labels the route. I added a red line to mark that part of Joliet Road that has been closed because the McCook Quarry undermined the road.

Satellite plus Paint

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US-20

Exploring Historic Route 20 posted

Happy New Year!!  Historic Route 20 is a 3365 mile highway that stretches from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon.

Is considered the longest federal highway in the United States.

Route 20 is not continuous, however, as some social media posts claim.  There is a break in Yellowstone National Park from its east entrance to its west entrance.  

The 3365 mile reference was calculated way back in 1989 and has not sufficiently been updated since this time.  It took into account alternate routes, such US 20A in New York and Ohio. 

However, our calculations have determined that if you were to drive continuously from Boston to Oregon and through Yellowstone National Park, this number is pretty accurate.

Route 20 travels through 12 states and is the longest highway in several of those states.

Route 20 was officially announced in November 19 25 and became official in November 1926.  It is the same date as other famous highways such as Route 66.

While the entire route could be seen in under one week of travel, two weeks of sufficient to see many of the sites - yet 20 days gets you more. 

This image is our first ever postcard image that we ever made of the highway back in 2012 when we began the organization.

Features along US-20 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• 1929,1968+2020s US-20 Bridges over Cazenovia Creek at West Seneca, NY
• 1929,2000 US-20 Bridge over 18 Mile Creek south of Buffalo, NY
• 1887-1943 US-20 Wagon or High Bridge over Mississippi River at Dubuque, IA
• 1943 US-20 Julien Dubuque Bridge over Mississippi River at Dubuque, IA

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US-40 (National Road)

nps_national
"The National Road was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. The road was authorized by Congress in 1806 during the Jefferson Administration. Construction began in Cumberland, Maryland in 1811. The route closely paralleled the military road opened by George Washington and General Braddock in 1754-55.  By 1818 the road had been completed to the Ohio River at Wheeling, which was then in Virginia. Eventually the road was pushed through central Ohio and Indiana reaching Vandalia, Illinois in the 1830's where construction ceased due to a lack of funds. The National Road opened the Ohio River Valley and the Midwest for settlement and commerce."

Features along US-40 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• 1928+1939,1988,2011 US-40 Bridges over East Channel Susquehanna River at Perryville, MD
• 1939,1988,2011 US-40 Bridge over West Channel Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace, MD
• 1815+1932 US-40 Bridges over Casselman River near Grantsville, MD
• 1818+WWII US-40 Great Crossing Bridges at Somerfield, PA
• 1960 US-40 Lane Bane Bridge over Monongahela River at Brownsville, PA
• 1891-1955,1962 US-40 Steel Bridge over Ohio River in Wheeling, WV
• 1839+1893,1987+? US-40 Bridges over West Channel Ohio River at Bridgeport, OH
• 2000 Covered, US-40 and CSX/Pennsy Bridges over Embarras River west of Greenup, IL
• 1951,1987-89,2015,2018-20 Martin Luther King Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis
• 1904-1991 St. Charles Highway Bridge over Missouri River at St. Charles, MO
• 1935-2016+1991+2015 I-64+US-40+US-61 Daniel Boone Bridge over Missouri River at Chesterfield, MO