Aetnaville Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Ohio River Back Channel on Georgia Street in Wheeling
- Location
- Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, and Belmont County, Ohio
- Status
- Closed to all traffic
- Future prospects
- Slated for demolition by West Virginia Department of Highways.
Spans available for adaptive reuse but must be removed; deadline for application April 15, 2020: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200129/historic-ohio-river-b...
- History
- Built 1891; closed to traffic December 1988
- Builder
- - Wrought Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
- Railroads
- - Co-Operative Transit Co.
- Interurban
- Design
- Pin-connected Pennsylvania through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 110.0 ft.
Total length: 440.0 ft.
- Recognition
- Listed as a contributing resource to the Wheeling Island Historic District
- Also called
- Georgia Street Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.08001, -80.73659 (decimal degrees)
40°04'48" N, 80°44'12" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/522458/4436670 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Wheeling
- Inventory number
- BH 43551 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- October 7, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
- June 30, 2020: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: Added builder and lengths
- January 29, 2020: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Bridge spans available for adaptive reuse but must be removed; demolition imminent if no savior is found
- May 5, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added categories "Co-Operative Transit Co.", "Interurban", "Railroad", "Rail-and-road"
- July 4, 2014: New Street View added by Ralph Demars
- March 14, 2014: Photo imported by Dave King
- May 3, 2012: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is now doomed.
- April 22, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn
- October 26, 2009: Added by Joshua Collins
Sources
- Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
- Janis Ford
- Wikipedia
- Nathan Holth
- News Article On Demolition Project. - Mentioned at end of article.
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
- Todd Wilson
- Columbus Metropolitan Library - Image
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- Geoff Hubbs
- Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Latest news article:
https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200129/historic-ohio-river-b...
"Anyone interested in the bridge must submit a preservation and financial plan as well as information about the intended use of the bridge, the West Virginia Division of Highways said in a news release.
If no one is interested, the bridge will be demolished, the agency said.
Requests to assume ownership of the bridge must be submitted by April 15."
West Virginia... An Historic Bridge's Nightmare.
For now, I've adjusted the future prospect to "timeline unknown" - it was still saying 2014, which we're well past now.
Here it is. 2.5 million to demolish but the mayor wants to save the piers for a new bridge.
We too have a 60 day letter from WVDOH and we discussed with the mayor. We were waiting a conference call. Bureaucrats.
https://www.facebook.com/768544216527315/posts/2708192125895...
Save this beautiful historical bridge. It's a beauty from another era. It's painful to see how easy people do away with the old and replace with new and boring. I adore this beautiful bridge and hopefully someday, if someone doesn't do away with her, I get to see this old bridge in person.. She still stands now in need of many repairs but look at what can be done and the results.. Don't elect a twenty year old who is too young to appreciate historical structures in that town to make vital and horrible decisions. It's like throwing a beautiful priceless piece of art in the trash.. Restore and paint the Aetnaville Bridge.. Don't destroy...... Restore....
This bridge is now closed to pedestrians as each portal is fenced off.
Still trying to be saved:
http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/61769...
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/wv/ohio/aetnaville/
Can you scan and send the article to my email address as I cannot access it from here in Europe? I intend to make a headline out of it in my column. Thanks! JS