Glover Cary Bridge
Description
Although this bridge often is called the "Glover Cary Bridge," the bridge's only official name is the one it was given when it opened in 1940: Owensboro Bridge.The Owensboro entrance to the bridge features a "stack" of three plaques that were placed there when the bridge opened. The smallest of these, on the bottom of the stack, notes that the bridge was "Dedicated to the Memory of Glover H. Cary." But the bridge was never named for Cary.
A photograph of the plaques is in the photo gallery for the bridge.
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Ohio River on IN 161 (formerly US 231) at downtown Owensboro
- Location
- Daviess County, Kentucky, and Spencer County, Indiana
- Status
- Open to two-lane traffic
- History
- Opened Sept. 1940
- Builders
- - Modjeski & Masters of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
- Works Progress Administration
- Design
- Cantilevered Warren through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 750.8 ft.
Total length: 4,622.8 ft. (0.9 mi.)
Deck width: 22.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.4 ft.
- Also called
- Owensboro Bridge
Blue Bridge (unofficial nickname) - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.78083, -87.10917 (decimal degrees)
37°46'51" N, 87°06'33" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/490386/4181504 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Owensboro East
- Inventory numbers
- KY 030-B00118N (Kentucky bridge number)
BH 18758 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 06/2015)
- Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 44.1 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
- 7,290
Update Log
- August 9, 2017: New photos from Jack Schmidt
- September 28, 2016: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- April 20, 2015: New photos from Adam
- October 29, 2011: Updated by J.P.: add builder and engineers along with build date which was not listed.
- October 1, 2011: New photos from James Baughn
- April 9, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
- March 14, 2010: Updated by Bill Eichelberger: Added Google Street View.
- April 16, 2009: Updated by C Hanchey
- May 28, 2008: New photos from James McCray
Sources
- Wikipedia
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
- C Hanchey - cmh2315fl [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Bill Eichelberger
- Nathan Holth
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Adam
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
Comments
September 6, 2014 the Blue Bridge will be open to pedestrian traffic only from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. for bridge day.
http://visitowensboro.com/ai1ec_event/bridge-day-walk-the-bl...
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet did a partial deck rehab on the KY 2262 Ohio River Bridge in Downtown Owensboro during the 2011 construction season. KY 2262 connects with IN State Route 161 on the north side of the bridge. Starting 06-04-12 and running for about 2 weeks we are conducting a detailed inspection of the bridge that will include the new deck sections. This bridge is also known locally as The Blue Bridge and the Glover Cary Bridge. BTW, in the early toll days the toll card listed "Livestock on the hoof" at 5 cents per head.
The toll was 35 cents for cars. Tolls were collected from August 2, 1940 to August 18, 1954.
You can research this information by contacting the city offices of where this bridge is located. Or the County Offices, whichever managed the bridge.
I have looked several places trying to find out how much the toll was on this bridge. I remember paying it as a child and remember when the toll booth was removed. Is there a place where I can look this up? Thank you.
The bridge will be open for pedestrian and bicycle traffic from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, September 30.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/sep/27/blue-bridge-ope...
Here are a few photos from the KYTC showing the ongoing 2011 deck replacement project.
That's right Nathan. This bridge used to be US 231, so a lot of trucks used it until the new bridge was built up river, and US 231 was re-routed. Now it handles primarily local traffic...heading back & forth between Owensboro & Indiana...which there is still a considerable amount of. So hopefully this bridge will be maintained for many more years.
Wayne,
You make an excellent point, the only new bridge I can see is a significant distance away from this bridge. While the new bridge undoubtedly reduced the traffic on this historic bridge it is clear that the historic bridge continues to provide an important functional purpose for vehicular traffic. The 8000+ Average Daily Traffic on the bridge makes this quite clear. I fail to see how the new bridge makes the historic bridge obsolete. The new bridge did not deprive the historic bridge of purpose, and in fact because the new bridge may have reduced the traffic on the historic bridge, the new bridge may have in fact made the historic bridge LESS obsolete since its relatively narrow two lanes are a perfect match for the type of traffic likely using the bridge today, since I bet the majority of wide trucks use the newer bridge.
Not sure why this bridge is considered "obsolete" because it still provides the shortest & quickest route between Owensboro & Newburgh/east side of Evansville.
An amazing story and pictures Connie.....thank you for sharing them. Hopefully this beautiful span will be maintained for generations to come.
I have found pictures of the DeLacey men painting the Glover Cary bridge in Owensboro, Ky. It was the very first painting for the bridge apparently. The bridge opened in September 1940, and these pictures say early 1940's. The men sitting on top of the bridge are from left to right, Oden,Frank, and LeeRoy DeLacey. Their Dad and other brother were working on the lower parts. The men in the bridge holes are from top to bottom, Frank and Oden DeLacey and Archie Adington. They painted this entire bridge silver without any harnesses, and only used brushes.
I am looking for information on the first paint job done on this bridge. I know my Dad, Oden DeLacey and all his brothers and his Dad got the contract to paint this bridge. There was a picture printed in the Messenger, but our family cannot find it. Would you have any information on this, or be able to tell me where to find any? The Owensboro library has all the archived newspaper, but we live in Pa, and would have to look through every reel they have since we don't have the title of the article or the exact date. It must have been 1948 or there abouts. Any help? I would love to have this bit of history documented. My cousin tells me he saw the picture so it does exist. He also said my Dad, Oden, would hang off the bridge to do this job. What a feat! Thank you for any help. Connie DeLacey Snyder
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ky/daviess/owensboro/
When I was a child of five, in about 1975, my father had my mom stop the car at one side of the Blue Bridge. He told her to drive across, and he would meet her on the other side. He wanted to walk across the bridge with me. I vaguely recall this event. Cars kept stopping with people asking if everything was okay. He assured them all was well, and he just wanted me to have this awesome experience. I am so glad my dad was adventuresome, but even he admits now that it was pretty dangerous. Has anyone else ever walked across this bridge with traffic?