Clement C. Clay Bridge | |
|---|---|
 CC Clay Bridge, April 2004. 1931 span in the foreground. | |
| Coordinates | 34°34′34″N86°34′01″W / 34.576°N 86.567°W Coordinates: 34°34′34″N86°34′01″W / 34.576°N 86.567°W |
| Carries |  |
| Crosses | Tennessee River |
| Locale | Huntsville |
| Official name | CC Clay Bridge |
| Other name(s) | Whitesburg Bridge |
| Named for | Clement C. Clay |
| Preceded by | Whites Ferry |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever truss |
| History | |
| Opened | 1931 |
The Clement C. Clay Bridge (CC Clay Bridge or Whitesburg Bridge) is a two bridge span over the Tennessee River just south of Huntsville in the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. Both bridges are cantilever truss types. The original bridge span was built in 1931, replacing Whites Ferry which crossed the river at nearby Ditto Landing. The second span was constructed in 1965. Upon completion, the newer span carried southbound traffic while the original span carried northbound traffic. The Clay bridge was named after former Alabama Governor and Senator Clement Comer Clay.
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as many of the Cherokee had their territory along its banks, especially in eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee village Tanasi.
Huntsville is a city in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama. It is the county seat of Madison County but extends west into neighboring Limestone County and south into Morgan County.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.
The 1931 span was replaced by a reinforced concrete structure, which opened in June 2006. Demolition of the original span began on August 16, 2006. [1]
Reinforced concrete (RC) (also called reinforced cement concrete or RCC) is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are counteracted by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility. The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars (rebar) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. Reinforcing schemes are generally designed to resist tensile stresses in particular regions of the concrete that might cause unacceptable cracking and/or structural failure. Modern reinforced concrete can contain varied reinforcing materials made of steel, polymers or alternate composite material in conjunction with rebar or not. Reinforced concrete may also be permanently stressed, so as to improve the behaviour of the final structure under working loads. In the United States, the most common methods of doing this are known as pre-tensioning and post-tensioning.
The bridge carries US-231 and unsigned SR-53 between the Huntsville Metropolitan Area and the Decatur Metropolitan Area. Before the 1952 extension of US-231, the bridge carried SR-38. North of the bridge, US-231 is known as Memorial Parkway.
State Route 53 (SR 53) is a 345.287-mile (555.686 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Alabama. The majority, between Dothan and Huntsville, is signed as U.S. Route 231 (US 231), but the two ends – south to Florida and north to I-65/US 31 near Tennessee – are independent. In those areas, US 231 uses SR 1, sharing the route with US 431 north of Huntsville, where it is referred to as Memorial Parkway.
