Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia, United States Kanauga, Gallia County, Ohio, United States
Official name
Point Pleasant Bridge[1]
Followed by
Silver Memorial Bridge
Characteristics
Design
suspension bridge
Material
Steel
Total length
2,235 feet (681 m)
Longest span
700 feet (210 m)
Piers in water
2
Design life
39 years (until collapse)
History
Designer
J. E. Greiner Company[2]
Constructed by
American Bridge Company
Opened
May 30, 1928[3]
Collapsed
December 15, 1967
Location
References
[4]
The collapsed Silver Bridge, as seen from the Ohio side
The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 which carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. Officially named the Point Pleasant Bridge,[1] it was popularly known as the Silver Bridge for the color of its aluminum paint.
On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed amid heavy rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people, two of whom were never found. Investigation of the wreckage soon pointed to the failure of a single eyebar in one of the suspension chains as the primary cause — a finding noted in a preliminary report released within 10 months of the collapse.[5] However, to explain why that eyebar failed — a failure triggered by a flaw just 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) deep, which led to a fracture — required significantly more time and effort to uncover, with the final accident report[6] taking three years to complete. The collapse led to significant changes in the way bridges in the U.S. are inspected and maintained.
The collapsed bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge, which was completed in 1969.
^ abWitcher, T.R. (December 2017). "From Disaster to Prevention: The Silver Bridge". Civil Engineering Magazine. 87 (11). American Society of Civil Engineers: 45. doi:10.1061/ciegag.0001250. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
^Witcher, T. R. (December 2017). "From Disaster to Prevention: The Silver Bridge" (PDF). Civil Engineering. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-05. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
^Silver Bridge at Structurae. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
^Passaglia, Elio (1999). "The Investigation of the Point Pleasant Bridge Collapse". NIST Digital Archives. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 4 November 2023. Excerpt of 'A Unique Institution: The National Bureau of Standards, 1950–1969,' by Elio Passaglia, NIST Special Publication 925.
^Cite error: The named reference NTSB_1970 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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