Wheeling, WV Area Bridges & Tunnels

[seicer]

I finally got around to flying the drone around Wheeling after a heavy rainstorm, and the backdrop of the sun against the passing storm clouds made for great lighting. It was good to see that the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was still closed to automobiles. I hope it remains this way - and general consensus with the public seems to favor a permanent automobile ban after several back-to-back incidents of grossly overweight vehicles that caused it to close.

Any rehab should involve making the bridge ADA compliant. The sidewalks are barely wide enough for a wheelchair. I witnessed a motorized wheelchair get stuck at the expansion joint and nearly tip over into the steel grating below - and then saw that the wheelchair took up about 90% of the sidewalk's width.

Anyways, here are some photos:

More photos can be found at http://bridgestunnels.com/location/wheeling-suspension-bridge/

[seicer]

The Fort Henry Bridge carries Interstate 70 and US Routes 40 and 250 over the main channel of the Ohio River in Wheeling, West Virginia. Originally named the Ninth Street Bridge, the Fort Henry Bridge was proposed to relieve traffic on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and the Ohio Street Bridge.

It was dedicated in 1955 and initially carried four lanes of US Routes 40 and 250 from Wheeling Island to downtown Wheeling. With the advent of the federal Interstate Highway System in 1957, plans were formed to construct a four-lane tunnel through Wheeling Hill, along with a viaduct over Wheeling Island and a bridge over the backchannel of the Ohio River to connect the bridge to Ohio. With the completion of the Wheeling Tunnel and the viaduct in 1966, the Interstate 70 designation was applied onto the Fort Henry Bridge.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Funny you photographed the bridge halfway through its new paint job.

[ErmineNotyours]

Funny you photographed the bridge halfway through its new paint job.

Looks like Seahawk colors!

[dlsterner]

Funny you photographed the bridge halfway through its new paint job.

Looks like Seahawk colors!

Actually I was wondering if it was intentionally WVU's school colors.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Funny you photographed the bridge halfway through its new paint job.

Blue & Green?

Looks like Seahawk colors!

Actually I was wondering if it was intentionally WVU's school colors.

[Bitmapped]

Funny you photographed the bridge halfway through its new paint job.

Looks like Seahawk colors!

Actually I was wondering if it was intentionally WVU's school colors.

It's not quite the WVU shade of blue, but that's the general idea. FWIW, old gold and blue are also the official colors of the State of West Virginia.

When the Market Street Bridge at Steubenville was rehabbed in 2011, they painted it in a gold and blue color scheme that was specifically said to be WVU colors. Those colors didn't hold up over time, though, so I guess WVDOH might have switched to a more standard blue in hopes of better longevity.

It's not quite the WVU shade of blue, which is a bit darker, but yeah, that's the general idea. FWIW, old glue and blue are also the official colors of the state.

The Market Street Bridge at Steubenville, OH is painted goldish yellow for the trusses and dark blue for the suspension towers and cables. That color scheme was specifically referred to as being WVU colors when it was done.