Historic Bridges of the U.S. | Cairo Ohio River Bridge

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Photos

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View at ground level

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View from observation deck

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Close-up of Kentucky side

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Oblique view from southwest

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View from northwest

Map

Vicinity map

Map links:

Facts

Overview: Continuous through truss over the Ohio River on US 51/60 between Cairo, Illinois and Wickliffe, Kentucky
Status: Open to two-lane traffic
History: Built 1937; rehabilitated 1979
Builders: - Modjeski and Masters (Consulting engineers)
- Mt. Vernon Bridge Co. (Superstructure)
Design: Cantilevered through truss
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 800.0 ft.
Total length: 5,863.7 ft.
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 19.6 ft.
Recognition: Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude: +36.99403, -89.14577 (decimal degrees)
36°59'39" N, 89°08'45" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
USGS topographic map: Wyatt
Inventory numbers: IL 002-0006 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15008 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 05/2004): Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 43.5 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2005): 6,100

Comments

Cairo Ohio River Bridge

Posted October 11, 2007, by Davwbs (Davwbs [at] starband [dot] net)

I travel this bridge about every week, but not going across the river but under it.

The lighting is very poor & does NOT meet the CFR permit that goes with it. The lights are not always lit as suppose to be. The bridge is hit every year when high water in the spring season in part of the dim lighting that marking the bridge.

The boats that travel under the bridge have to use 2 very bright lights on board to see the peirs & blind the cars & trucks going over that bridge, that could make for a very bad problem for people travling the bridge.

Cairo Ohio River Bridge

Posted October 2, 2007, by tom koller (tk48states [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I crossed this bridge on 9/30/07 in my big truck with a load of steel gross weight 78,000 lbs. If another similar weighted truck had been behind me I would have instructed the driver to stay at least one span behind.

Cairo Ohio River Bridge

Posted June 3, 2007, by boyd daniels (boyddaniels [at] yahoo [dot] com)

I THINK THIS IS A PRETTY SAFE BRIDGE TO TRAVEL,UNLIKE THE BROOKPORT BRIDGE ON I-45.I LIKE TO CROSS ALL THE EXTREME SOUTHERN ILLINOIS BRIDGES WITH OUT ANY PROBLEMS , SOMETIMES A LITTLE NERVOUS AT NIGHT THOUGH,BUT FOR THE MOST PART THEY ARE ALL SAFE TO CROSS AT ASAFE SPEED!!!

Cairo Ohio River Bridge

Posted May 22, 2007, by The Count (dummy [at] icechalet [dot] net)

Try here for your storm info:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/060810_rpts.html

Cairo Ohio River Bridge

Posted August 24, 2006, by Deborah Marsala (deborah_marsala [at] yahoo [dot] com)

The reason I am visiting this site is because I had a very nerve wracking experience on this bridge Thursday, August 10, 2006. A friend and I were travelling to Kentucky taking the southern route from our home and we were crossing the bridge during a storm and were stuck in the middle of the thing during this storm because of road construction (apparently it was down to one lane on the entrance side from the east going towards Missouri.) Needless to say we were quite scared as our car was moving all over as if were about to be blown off the bridge. It was a very scary event and I will never forget it. I'm trying to get into the Cairo, IL newspaper archives to see if there was some major weather event for that day but their newspaper has no archive link.

If anyone has any info on this, please send it along.

Thanks.