Roger Deschner

There's a lot of interesting material available online now, about the Silver Bridge Disaster. More than just Mothman. I have added links in "Sources" to Open University courses about the Silver Bridge and its demise.

Local artists in Point Pleasant WV are painting a section of the Ohio River floodwall to make it look like the bridge is still there, complete with a period car driving on it about to arrive in Point Pleasant. It's really quite an illusion!

Another piece of the bridge can be seen at a state rest area about 1 mile north of the bridge site on OH-7.

Photos 8, 9, and 10 are of a different bridge, the Bartow Jones Bridge (BH41918), not this bridge.

Actually an interesting bridge, even though it carries very little traffic today compared to when it was built in 1944. NR eligible due to association with World War II. Retains very good historical integrity, with very little maintenance having been performed. The roadway Ford City Drive (a.k.a. Keller Drive or 77th Street) is a minefield of bone-jarring potholes, which may be one reason it carries so little traffic. The state report cites a number of statistics about it, some of which like crashes will get worse when this bridge is eventually demolished and replaced with a longer left-turn lane at a stop light. A better solution for this historic structure would be to repair the spalling concrete and fix the potholes. That would improve safety, especially for Daley College students who use it for access to a main parking lot.

This is a nice discussion of bridge lighting, but the Silver Memorial Bridge carrying US 35 across the Ohio River is not lit. I am typing this in a motel room overlooking this nice cantilever truss bridge, and except for normal streetlights shining down at the roadway, it is dark.

BTW a favorite lighted bridge is the possibly doomed Blackhawk Bridge over the Mississippi River between Iowa and Wisconsin.

CN RR is about to begin reconstruction of the St. Charles Airline, currently used by both Amtrak and freight trains to traverse Chicago's South Loop. Note that this investment means that the St. Charles Airline itself will likely be around for quite a bit longer. The 99-year old bascule bridge over the Chicago River (http://bridgehunter.com/il/cook/st-charles-air-line/) and the remarkably long clear-span Indiana Avenue bridge (http://bridgehunter.com/il/cook/bh70163/) are not included on the list of replacements. But we'll lose some other very old, notable plate girder bridges. Next time I take my camera out for a drive, I'll try to document the bridges at Michigan, Wabash, State, Dearborn, and Clark before they're torn down.

From the South Loop Neighbors Newsletter (Chicago):

St. Charles Air Line to be rebuilt

Canadian National Railroad is about to begin reconstruction of the St. Charles Air Line (the railroad that runs through the South Loop at 1530 S). They'll be replacing overpasses built for four tracks at Michigan, Wabash, State, Dearborn, and Clark with new single-track spans that don't need any pillars within the street ROW. The centerline of the single remaining track will be moved to the north slightly in order to ease the curves at either end a tiny bit. All bridges except Dearborn will be Cor-Ten steel. The decorative ironwork at Michigan will be saved and-possibly-donated to someone who wants it.

Nothing will be done with the now-unused portion of the ROW, south of the active tracks, and the unused abutments will remain. Utility work will begin this winter, with most work being finished in 2019. The project includes moving the westbound control point to just north of McCormick Place, meaning trains will no longer idle next to Dearborn Tower waiting long periods of time for clearance to cross the Metra Rock Island tracks.

Now doomed, though there is a proposal to relocate it to Blackhawk Street. One more step on the city's plan to demolish all historic bascule bridges on the North Branch of the Chicago River.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-biz-bridge-goose-islan...

This isn't in the U.S., but it's major bridge news. A busy motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy collapsed today during a thunderstorm, killing "dozens". This story is still developing, so follow the media for details. An eyewitness report said that lightning hit one of the towers, and then it fell.

Story, including video of the bridge collapsing: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45183624

Follow this story as it develops. We may learn more about the reports of repairs being underway at the time (Echoes of I-35W), and the original design of the bridge.

I just added that log bridge, with photos. I also linked it to this bridge as being "Downstream".

I just visited here. Not quite sure how to catagorize this structure. It appears to be part dam and part low-water crossing. The water level in the Mississippi River downstream of this structure is definitely lower than the water level of Lake Itasca, so it is certainly holding the water of Lake Itasca back. You can see that in the photos I just added. We can laugh as intrepid tourists hop barefoot from stone to stone, but this structure is actually fairly significant for controlling the water level of the lake and its flow into the river and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico.

You've got to love the "street view" which is from the river. Apparently Google put its street view camera in a canoe, and went quite a distance downstream.

There is indeed a troll under this bridge, one of the more famous bridge trolls anywhere. This troll is a notable Seattle landmark. You can see it in one of the street views.

104 year old bridge is listed for sale - but only for a couple of weeks. This looks like another City of Chicago gambit to circumvent Section 106 as fast as possible, just like with the nearby Division Street Bridge, right now! Demolition of this historic structure is likely very soon.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/06/18/chicago-aven8e-bridg...

Why couldn't the City just maintain it, instead?

Construction has started to rebuild this bridge. According to a City of Chicago press release, "The replacement structure will maintain the existing bridge’s historic architectural style while providing modern lighting and drainage and meet modern ADA standards." We'll see. https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room...

The bridge will remain open to vehicular and pedestrian traffic during construction by doing it one half at a time.

So, now that this incident is down to lawsuits and NTSB investigations, what next? There is clearly a need for a bridge at this location. FIU students are being killed crossing busy US 41.

I assume they will not simply try again to build this failed design. That would be a travesty, and a dishonor to the 6 who lost their lives here.

I do like Nathan Holth's idea of moving and rehabilitating the remains of the historic Drew Bridge. It might actually fit into this space with its big center pier, which could be located between the road and the canal. Or there may be another historic bridge available for reuse, such as Indiana's 9-span Bridge. Such an historic bridge could be an interesting classroom for FIU engineering students.

Or simply build a more conventional steel through truss bridge. The requirements of the site dictate a through truss, those being clearance requirements above the road, along with a desire to minimize how many stairs pedestrians would have to climb. This part of the original design was correct - it was to have been a through truss to meet these basic requirements. However, successful concrete truss bridges are rare, perhaps for a reason.

If no available historic bridge can be found, build a new steel through truss, but build it deliberately to be a classroom, with ready connectors and power outlets for stress monitors and other instrumentation, so the engineering students could learn how to use these tools on a real bridge. Make the deck to be inside the truss webs, so that the bottom chord is easily visible. (Example: rehabbed Chatham Street Bridge in Blue Island IL.) If they would like to make it a bit fancier than a simple Warren truss, it could be a Baltimore, Pennsylvania, or Lattice truss with their interesting geometry. Those are designs intended to carry heavy trains, which could minimize sway from people walking across. A conventional steel truss bridge would be easy and safe to build using "accelerated bridge construction" techniques. Such a replacement bridge could be both a memorial to the 6 fatalities, and a classroom for the future bridge builders at FIU.

A bridge is clearly needed here. The lawsuits and NTSB investigations are "water under the bridge". It's time to start thinking about the new bridge.

Nice review in today's New York Times of a graphic novel/comic book entitled “The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York.” which is about to be published. I look forward to buying a copy.

Here's the book review in NYT: "Building the Brooklyn Bridge, in Graphic Detail" https://nyti.ms/2H1pCLp