Interstate 470 Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°02′59″N80°43′51″W / 40.0498°N 80.7307°W |
Carries | 4 lanes of I-470 |
Crosses | Ohio River |
Locale | Bellaire, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia |
Official name | Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge |
Maintained by | West Virginia Department of Transportation |
ID number | 00000000035A123 |
Characteristics | |
Design | Tied-arch bridge |
Total length | 409 m (1,342 ft) |
Longest span | 239 m (784 ft) |
Clearance above | 21 m (69 ft) |
History | |
Construction start | 1975 |
Construction end | 1983 |
Location | |
References | |
[1] [2] |
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge is a four-lane tied arch bridge in the United States. It carries Interstate 470 over the Ohio River between Bellaire, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia.
Construction on the tied-arch bridge began in 1975, and was scheduled to be completed by 1981. Frays in the vertical hanger cables delayed the opening of the bridge, which was scheduled to open in July 1981. [3] Additionally, delays in completing Ohio State Route 7 along the western shores of the river and Interstate 470 also resulted in the bridge not fully opening. [2]
The estimated cost to construct the span was about $54 million. [4]
The opening of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, along with another bridge in nearby Moundsville was thought to have reduced the amount of traffic, and thus tolls collected by the nearby Bellaire Bridge by up to 50 percent in 1987. [5]
The National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam.
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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.
Interstate 470 (I-470) is a 10.63-mile-long (17.11 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway of I-70 that bypasses the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, United States. I-470 is one of 13 auxiliary Interstate Highways in Ohio and the only auxiliary Interstate Highway in West Virginia. The western terminus of I-470 is an interchange with I-70 in Richland Township, Ohio. Traveling southeast through rural Belmont County, I-470 approaches the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the Ohio River. After crossing the river into Ohio County, West Virginia, the highway continues east toward the Wheeling communities of Bethlehem and Elm Grove and its eastern terminus at I-70 near Elm Grove. The portion of the highway in West Virginia is named the USS West Virginia Memorial Highway by proclamation of then-Governor Cecil H. Underwood on the 59th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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The Moundsville Bridge is a four-lane through arch bridge that connects Mead Township, Ohio and Moundsville, West Virginia across the Ohio River. The approach routes to the bridge carries Ohio State Route 872 on the Ohio side and the unsigned West Virginia Route 2 Spur on the West Virginia side. The bridge is also officially known as the Arch A. Moore Bridge, named after the former West Virginia governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge carries the Pocahontas Parkway, signed as State Route 895, across the James River between the independent city of Richmond and Henrico County. Crossing the southernmost extremity of Richmond, it provides a connection between Henrico and the southern end of Chippenham Parkway near U.S. Route 1 in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
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