OK, I'm seriously pissed! Why on earth was no effort made to preserve this Phoenix Column bridge?!?
The bridge is now lost!:
The concrete piers and plate girder approach spans do seem to suggest a bridge that was built in 1907 using the 19th Century truss span for the main span.
Phoenix columns throughout and very unique portal bracing. This is a real gem! Obviously the 1907 date is incorrect as this bridge would appear to be 1880's vintage. May have been relocated from somewhere else in 1907.
That is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. It is completely inexcusable. This was one of the rarest and most significant historic bridges in the entire state of West Virginia. Why did they do it? Probably because its West Virginia. This is a state that blows up its own mountains and poisons its own drinking water just for the sake of business. Beauty, heritage, health, well-being, thinking to the future? These things are all elements to be destroyed in the interest of short-term profit.