The Bridgeport Bridge (known officially as the Wheeling and Belmont bridge as per the dedication plaque affixed to the original structure) was a steel-framed bridge but was built with a wooden deck in 1893 to replace a prior wooden covered bridge that was built on the same site circa 1836. In fact, the 1893 bridge was partially built off of the old bridge, as it utilized the same piers that were built for the earlier bridge. The primary reason for construction of the new bridge was to accommodate the new electric streetcars that were being deployed in Wheeling. With the construction of the Steel Bridge across the main channel of the Ohio River from Wheeling Island to the City of Wheeling circa 1889, electric streetcar service was expanded into Ohio, eventually stretching all the way west to the small mining town of Barton, which is approximately 15 miles (24km) west of Wheeling. The original bridge's traffic moved to the current bridge in 1998. Despite this, the original bridge was not demolished until 2011.
The original bridge was documented by the Historic American Engineering Record program, which provided the following description of its significance in approximately 1987:
Built in 1893, the Bridgeport Bridge represented one type of bridges which could be ordered from catalogues at the end of the nineteenth century. Except for the replacement of the partially wooden roadway surface with steel grating in 1950, the bridge remained basically unchanged. Because the floor beams had become structurally unsound, a new, self-supporting, load-bearing deck structure was installed inside the trusses of the Bridgeport Bridge in 1987. Designed as a temporary means of carrying traffic until the current bridge span was built, the deck installed was prefabricated in England and is a modern-day successor to the Bailey bridge type.[3]
In 1987 or so, there were plans for the building of a replacement vehicular bridge nearby, upstream. It was expected that the original Bridgeport bridge would remain as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.[3]
The wooden deck of the original bridge was replaced in 1950 with steel grating, and the streetcar tracks were removed, as interurban rail service was discontinued in 1948. By 1987, the floor beams had become structurally unsound for automobile traffic due to extensive corrosion. A self-supporting, load-bearing deck structure, known as a Bailey Truss, was installed inside the trusses of the Bridgeport Bridge. Despite this, this was not designed for rehabilitation, and the current bridge was opened in 1998 with the current Military Order of the Purple Heart Bridge. Sometime in 2009 much of the Bailey Truss was removed. It is unclear if the steel grate floor had been removed prior to the installation of the Bailey Truss, but after the removal of its floor structure the former Bridgeport Bridge was left without a floor.
In 2009, it was announced that the former bridge would be demolished, and the cost of demolishing the bridge was estimated to be less than $200,000.[4] (about $284,055 in 2024)[5]
Early in the summer of 2011, WTOV-TV in Steubenville reported that the original bridge was to be demolished, with demolition tentatively scheduled to start at the end of July 2011.[6] They reported that the West Virginia Division of Highways received a request from the U.S. Coast Guard to bring the bridge down as it was a safety hazard and pieces had fallen into the river. It also verified that many of the unique features of the bridge, such as the railings, signage, the finials on top, and plaques would be removed prior to demolition. The bridge demolition was expected to take 60 days and cost $750,000.00, which was considerably less than a $1.2 million estimate for demolition costs that had been given in 2000.
Explosive demolition of the original bridge occurred on Monday, September 12, 2011.[7] Explosive charges were used to drop the bridge into the river, after which cranes began retrieving the steel parts for scrapping. Complete removal of bridge and piers was scheduled to be completed by end of October 2011.
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span, which was later overtaken by John A. Roebling's most famous design of the 1883 Brooklyn Bridge at 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m). Pedestrians use the bridge to get between the hotels, bars, restaurants, and parking lots in Northern Kentucky. The bar and restaurant district at the foot of the bridge on the Kentucky side is known as Roebling Point.
The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1958, it is the third bridge at approximately the same site to carry that name. It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until 1851. Charles Ellet Jr. designed it and supervised construction of what became the first bridge to span a major river west of the Appalachian Mountains. It linked the eastern and western section of the National Road, and became especially strategically important during the American Civil War. Litigation in the United States Supreme Court concerning its obstruction of the new high steamboat smokestacks eventually cleared the way for other bridges, especially needed by expanding railroads. Because this bridge was designed during the horse-and-buggy era, 2-ton weight limits and vehicle separation requirements applied in later years until it was closed to automobile traffic in September 2019.
The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Purple People Bridge is a pedestrian-only bridge that stretches 2,670 feet over the Ohio River, connecting Newport, Kentucky to downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel was a steel manufacturer based in Wheeling, West Virginia.
The Coraopolis Bridge[1] is a girder bridge over the back channel of the Ohio River connecting Grand Avenue on Neville Island to Ferree Street in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. It opened in 1995 to replace a structure of historic significance. The original Pratt/Bowstring/Pennsylvania[2] through truss spans, designed by Theodore Cooper, were formerly the (third) Sixth Street Bridge, spanning the Allegheny River, in downtown Pittsburgh, and were built in 1892 by the Union Bridge Company. They were floated downstream by the Foundation Company in 1927 rather than being demolished when the bridge was removed to enable construction of the present (fourth) Three Sisters (Pittsburgh) Sixth Street Self-anchored suspension bridge. However, by the late 1980s, the old bridge could no longer support traffic volumes and was replaced by a newer structure.
The Bellaire Bridge or Interstate Bridge is a privately owned, closed cantilever truss toll bridge that spans the Ohio River between Benwood, West Virginia and Bellaire, Ohio. It provided a link for commuters between southern Ohio border towns and West Virginia steel mills from 1926 to 1991.
The Parkersburg–Belpre Bridge is a four-lane cantilever bridge that connects Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Belpre, Ohio, across the Ohio River. The bridge was completed in 1980. The bridge had been signed U.S. Route 50 (US 50) until June 13, 2008, when that highway was re-routed to the Blennerhassett Island Bridge a few miles to the west, as part of the completion of the Corridor D project around Parkersburg. The American Discovery Trail uses the bridge to cross the Ohio River.
The Parkersburg Bridge crosses the Ohio River between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Belpre, Ohio. Designed by Jacob Linville, the bridge has 46 spans: 25 deck plate girder, 14 deck truss, 6 through truss, and 1 through plate girder. 50,000 cubic yards (38,000 m3) of stone were used for the 53 piers. The bridge was constructed from May 1869 to January 1871 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At the time of its completion, the bridge was reportedly the longest in the world at 7,140 feet (2,180 m).
Foxburg Bridge was a steel-built truss bridge in Foxburg, Pennsylvania. The crossing, which spanned the Allegheny River, was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1920s. It originally had a two-tier design in which the top level carried a branch of Northern Subdivision railroad while the lower level was used by road traffic and pedestrians.
The Aetnaville Bridge is a through truss bridge spanning the back channel of the Ohio River between Bridgeport, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia. The bridge was built in December 1891 and used for vehicular traffic until December 1988, when it was closed to cars due to safety concerns. The structure was used by pedestrians until its complete closure in 2016.
The B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing is a 15-acre (6.1 ha) historic site where a set of railroad bridges, originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, span the Potomac River between Sandy Hook, Maryland and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1978, for its significance in commerce, engineering, industry, invention, and transportation.
La Belle Iron Works, also known as La Belle Cut Nail Works, was a historic factory complex and national historic district located at Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. The district included four contributing buildings; three Italianate style brick buildings dated to the founding of the company in 1852, and a tin plate mill built 1894–1897. After 1902, the buildings were combined under a single roof, although the truss systems date to different periods achieving the configuration visible today. When listed in 1997, it was known as the "La Belle Cut Nail Plant, The Largest in the World, Wheeling Corrugating Company, A Division of Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation." The cut nail machinery still in use by La Belle dated to 1852 and the 1860s. The machinery at La Belle along with the different processes were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey team during the summer of 1990.
Wheeling Island Historic District is a national historic district located on Wheeling Island in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. The district includes 1,110 contributing buildings, 5 contributing sites, 2 contributing structures, and 3 contributing objects. It is a largely residential district consisting of two-story, frame detached dwellings built in the mid- to late-19th and early-20th century, including the Irwin-Brues House (1853) and a number of houses on Zane Street. The houses are representative of a number of popular architectural styles including Bungalow, Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival. Notable non-residential contributing properties include the Exposition Building (1924), Thompson United Methodist Church (1913-1915), Madison School (1916), firehouse (1930-1931), the Bridgeport Bridge (1893), the Aetnaville Bridge (1891), "The Marina," Wheeling Island Baseball Park, and "Belle Island Park." It includes the separately listed Wheeling Suspension Bridge, Harry C. and Jessie F. Franzheim House, and John McLure House.
The Fort Steuben Bridge, originally the Weirton-Steubenville Bridge, was a suspension bridge which spanned the Ohio River from Steubenville, Ohio to Weirton, West Virginia and carried U.S. Route 22 and then Ohio State Route 822 during its existence. Completed in 1928 and opened as a toll bridge, the Fort Steuben Bridge was a more direct route for the flow of traffic across the river; particularly for trucks and heavy vehicles from the industrial area. The Fort Steuben Bridge was weight-restricted in 2006 and closed in 2009 due to deterioration. The bridge was demolished by Joseph B. Fay Co. on February 21, 2012.
The Market Street Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting Market Street in Steubenville, Ohio and West Virginia Route 2 in Follansbee, West Virginia over the Ohio River. As a project of the Steubenville Bridge Company, it was constructed in 1905 by the Ohio Steel Erection Company, the framework was created by the Penn Bridge Company, and the original steel was done by Jones and Laughlin Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel. The bridge spans a length of 1,794 feet (547 m) with a width of 20.7 feet (6.3 m). As of 2002, the average daily traffic was estimated around 15,000 vehicles. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
The Lover's Lane Bridge is a historic bridge spanning the Dog River in Berlin, Vermont. Built in 1915, it is a rare early 20th-century example of a Warren pony truss bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as Bridge No. 27.
The Morseville Bridge is a bridge which formerly carried Burt Road over the Flint River in Taymouth Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is the oldest surviving highway bridge in Saginaw County.
The Terminal Bridge was a pontoon bridge and then a through-truss swing bridge at Leavenworth, Kansas. The pontoon bridge opened in 1889. The steel truss bridge opened on January 2, 1894, and was demolished in 1987.
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US 40 / US 250 
