Interesting Detours from Bridge Closures/Collapses

[Dirt Roads]

Inspired by the Ferries on U.S. Routes thread, I got sidetracked for the past week trying to find out if the infamous 1936 St. Patrick's Day Flood caused US-340 to be rerouted by restoring the ferry at aptly-named Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  The real story is more interesting, hopefully deserving of a new thread.

Although US-340 through Harpers Ferry was conceived as an original "interstate highway" routing by the Joint Board prior to 1926, the route was incomplete, as the old 1870 Bollman Truss railroad bridge that by then was carrying highway traffic was still being reconstructed after the flood of May 3, 1924 wiped out three of its eight truss spans (all eight of different lengths).  But somehow, this bridge between Harpers Ferry -and- Maryland Heights MD was reconstructed and opened in 1926 just in time to truly make it in the history books as an Original U.S. Route.

On March 18, 1936, torrential rainfalls combined with heavy snow melt in the eastern Alleghenies washed away both the old Bollman Truss over the Potomac River; the adjacent highway bridge over the Shenandoah River; plus the three other highway bridges over the Potomac River between Shepherdstown and Point of Rocks.

For those unaware, the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry is a complex set of rapids and not continually navigable either upstream or cross-stream.  Instead, the old Harper's ferry (from which the town takes its name) crossed the Shenandoah River.  And then it is a good long way downstream to the next pool deep enough to ferry across the Potomac.  Instead, the B&O Railroad worked with the Maryland State Roads Commission to plank over the 1896 bridge, which was originally constructed for the double-track mainline westward but was quickly converted to a single track connection for the Winchester and Potomac Railroad (which was by then wholly-owned by the B&O). 

Shortly after the floodwaters subsided, all traffic on US-340 was restored directly between West Virginia and Maryland.  This view is looking across towards town from the Maryland Heights side.  Note the trackage for the W&P on the upstream side of the bridge deck.  Even moreso, check out the tight kink in the guardrails so that vehicles can get back onto the road that went around the bottom of the Maryland Heights cliffs (rather than heading straight through the Harpers Ferry Tunnel, which handled heavy mainline traffic in both directions).



Also as a result of the 1936 flood, the Appalachian Trail was relocated onto this 1896 bridge (where it remains today, with no roads to compete with).  US-340 was not relocated onto its current routing across the Sandy Hook Bridge until 1947.  Just off the screen to the right (west) is the "new" double track mainline bridge that was completed in 1931. 

[Dirt Roads]

By the way, I was considering posting this Harpers Ferry piece in the "What Bridge Closure" thread, but apparently I previously disqualified myself.

- US 340 across the Potomac River
- US 15 across the Potomac River

Not as bad as one might think.  There is the Brunswick Bridge connecting VA-287 and MD-17 at Brunswick, Maryland.  However, you do need to take SR-671 all the way down to VA-9 west of Hillsboro to get around the US-340 bridge.  As tempted as you might be to go all the way to Wheatland and pick up VA-287, take Mountain Road north on the other side of Hillsboro as it is one of the most scenic roads in the entire state.  For a US-15 detour, Lovettsville Road is a bit winding but not that far out of the way.

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty much anything related to US Route 101 in Humboldt County after the 1964 Christmas Floods gets pretty wild.  One of the detours required crossing the Fernbridge Bridge, using what is now CA 211 (then CA 1) to Ferndale and Blue Slide Road. 

I captured the above story in a blog I wrote about the unkillable Fernbridge:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/12/the-indomitable-fernbridge-california.html

[LilianaUwU]

The I-90 Schoharie Creek bridge collapse in Fort Hunter, NY had I-90 redirected onto NY 5S and 5S redirected onto an old railroad bridge.

[vdeane]

The I-90 Schoharie Creek bridge collapse in Fort Hunter, NY had I-90 redirected onto NY 5S and 5S redirected onto an old railroad bridge.

That one is especially interesting because that old railroad bridge is now the current alignment of NY 5S, with the old NY 5S bridge being used for the Erie Canal Trail - especially since the trail clearly uses the old railroad alignment here.  A few years ago, the trail and NY 5S were swapped for whatever reason, resulting in the trail crossing NY 5S twice to do so.

[Rothman]

The I-90 Schoharie Creek bridge collapse in Fort Hunter, NY had I-90 redirected onto NY 5S and 5S redirected onto an old railroad bridge.

That one is especially interesting because that old railroad bridge is now the current alignment of NY 5S, with the old NY 5S bridge being used for the Erie Canal Trail - especially since the trail clearly uses the old railroad alignment here.  A few years ago, the trail and NY 5S were swapped for whatever reason, resulting in the trail crossing NY 5S twice to do so.

I like the historic site nearby which points out that bridges have been falling down in this little area at Schoharie Crossing for millennia.

[Dirt Roads]

After the Silver Bridge disaster in December 1967, WVDOH rerouted US-35 traffic between Pt. Pleasant -and- Gallipolis OH across the old Pomeroy Bridge that carried US-33.  That certainly was necessary for local traffic, but since most of the long distance traffic volumes were between Charleston and Columbus, it didn't make sense to use US-35 up the north side of the Kanawha, since I-77 was already completed from the Sissonville exit northward.  Instead, much of the traffic headed up to the Ripley exit and across US-33 on up to Columbus (but a goodly portion of that traffic used the brand spanking new I-77 Marietta-Williamstown Interstate Bridge and turned west onto I-70 at Cambridge). 

It took less than two years to complete the new Silver Memorial Bridge between Gallipolis and Henderson WV, and US-35 was relocated onto the former route of WV-17 down the south side of the Kanawha River through my neck of the woods.

Curiously, nearly 60 years later (and after completion of a new Ohio River crossing further upstream at Revenswood), the folks at ODOT have decided that US-33 really is the best route between Columbus -and- Charleston.