Bridges & Tunnels Updates

[seicer]

While traveling to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan earlier in the fall, I came across the picturesque Cut River Bridge along U.S. Route 2 in Mackinac County. The Cantilever deck truss bridge was constructed from 1941 to 1946, and was one of two such spans in the state. The lengthy duration of construction for the 641 foot span was attributed to steel rationing during World War II.

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2 The Cut River Bridge was rehabilitated from 2008 to 2009.



3 The detailing on the bridge is original and quite nice.


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Further Reading

a. Cut River Bridge (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2011/12/19/cut-river-bridge/
b. Cut River Bridge (article): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/michigan/cut-river-bridge/
c. Related - A Taste of the Upper Peninsula: http://www.americanbyways.com/2011/12/20/a-taste-of-the-upper-peninsula/

[AsphaltPlanet]

That's beautiful. It's crazy that it took five years to build that bridge

[seicer]

The 8th Street Viaduct in Cincinnati, Ohio connects Lower Price Hill to Queensgate and downtown. The first iteration of the viaduct was constructed in 1893, featuring all iron construction and a 20 foot wide deck. It carried two lanes of traffic and the 8th Street line of the Cincinnati Street Railway, which followed the viaduct to Warsaw Avenue, bypassing the Price Hill incline.

The completion of the incline in 1874 led to a housing boom in Price Hill. Commanding spectacular views of Cincinnati and offering a more rural atmosphere, away from the chaos and bustle of the Mill Creek valley, the incline carried thousands of people up and down the hillside. But the construction of the viaduct, and the completion of the streetcar into Price Hill, allowed for a quicker and more efficient means of transport into the neighborhood. The incline lumbered on until 1943.

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In 1928, the 8th Street Viaduct was replaced with a new, concrete-reinforced span with a 40 foot deck that carried four lanes of traffic, in addition to the streetcar line. It cost $2 million to complete, and consisted of a 2,730 foot frame structure, 79 spans in total, with a 4 inch bridge deck with a concrete surface overlay. There were secondary access points at Evans Drive and Burns Drive.

In mid-2008, the viaduct was closed for six months while a $22 million rehabilitation project was undertaken on the then 79-year-old bridge. Out of 78, 22 deteriorated concrete piers were replaced during the closure. But there was more work to complete, as many expansion joints were removed, the bridge deck replaced, and a new driving surface installed, along with the installation of new recessed street lights and aluminum bridge railings. The Burns Street ramp was demolished and replaced with an entirely new span, and the remains of the Evans Drive ramps were removed.

In 2010, the 8th Street Viaduct rehabilitation project was completed.

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Further Reading
a. Cincinnati's 8th Street Viaduct (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2011/12/23/cincinnatis-8th-street-viaduct/
b. 8th Street Viaduct (article): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio/8th-street-viaduct/

[JREwing78]

While traveling to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan earlier in the fall, I came across the picturesque Cut River Bridge along U.S. Route 2 in Mackinac County.

I drove across that bridge quite frequently while in college and for much of my 20's.

A shame you didn't have the opportunity to continue west to Houghton & Hancock; among other things, you would've been able to photograph this bridge:

[ admin edit - please don't hot link images from that site.  They don't like it.  Please use a link to the page that hosts the image in the future if you want to post an image from that site.  Thanks. -rmf67 ]

Portage Lake Lift Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_Lake_Lift_Bridge

[seicer]

Well, I know I'll be making a return trip up there soon!

[seicer]

It's no secret that the Waldvogel Viaduct, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, is aging. Constructed in 1940, the viaduct connects the newer 6th Street Expressway and U.S. Route 50 to River Road, Warsaw Avenue and Elberon Avenue.

For motorists coming from the east, accustomed the wide lanes of Interstate 75 and the 6th Street Expressway, and the gentle curves and shoulders, are taken back the moment that the highway transitions to the Waldvogel. Not counting the lack of a shoulder, the lanes are only 10 feet wide with no buffer, and the sharp bends and creases provide only a limited sight distance. The cluttered appearance of the steel supports and the plate girders are a stark difference to the smooth and curved box girders of Fort Washington Way.

In 1993, the weight limit was reduced due to structural deterioration. Repairs were completed intermittently, and from 1996 to 2011, the city conducted $2.5 million in repairs to the bridge. Despite this and other work, the city rates the viaduct a 4 out of a 10, while the state gives the bridge only a 2 out of 100.

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The State Avenue outbound ramp has been closed for only a few years. The inbound ramp, with its non-existant acceleration lane and its blind spot with a left-lane merge, was closed decades ago for safety reasons.

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4 A view of the River Road ramp.


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7 The X's mark a failing concrete sub-deck.


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12 Fracture critical — in addition to being only a foot away from the roadway.


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In the spring of 2010, the first phase of a $68 million viaduct replacement project, with the relocation of four railroad tracks. That phase, which cost $6 million, was completed in the summer of 2011.

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The second and final phase, which involves the removal of the existing Waldvogel Viaduct, construction of five bridges, and the completion of an at-grade River Road, is expected to be complete by October 31, 2014.

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Further Reading
a. An aging Waldvogel Viaduct: http://bridgestunnels.com/2011/12/24/an-aging-waldvogel-viaduct/
b. Waldvogel Viaduct: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio/waldvogel-viaduct/

[agentsteel53]

I like the white signs in photos 18 and 20.  if I recall correctly, they are internally lit. 

[seicer]

They are - Cincinnati has a lot of lit signs, although no new ones are being installed.

[Alps]

I have a few more views (including closeups of the white signs) on my own page.

[hbelkins]

Might be worthy of being the central focus of a meet sometime. Would be an easy day trip for me. 

[xcellntbuy]

Great photos!  In many ways the Cincinnati viaduct looks very similar to the old West Side Highway in New York.

[Alps]

WSH was a lot more like the old Boston Central Artery.

[seicer]

Not much of a secret that I travel to West Virginia a lot. From my travels, I have encountered a lot of interesting bridges that are endangered or historic. For instance, I discovered a Pratt truss on Gandy Creek on a drive with a friend to Spruce Knob recently along Randolph County Route 29, which is not all that remarkable by itself except that it was constructed in 1900 by the Canton Bridge Company and is unmodified for the most part. It features a bridge deck that is in poor condition and a timber substructure!







On an earlier trip to Bramwell, I came across the Kate Hewltt Bridge that carries Mercer County Route 20/20 over the Bluestone River. Constructed in 1915, the two-span pony truss was recently rehabilitated.



The Norfolk Western Railroad Bluestone Branch crossing over the Bluestone River is a simple two span pony plate girder bridge in Bramwell, West Virginia. The Bluestone Branch was a 17-mile line that extended from Bluestone to Giatto, although the last regular service operated over the rails in 1984 when the last coal train left McComas via the Crane Creek Branch. The last train operated west of Coopers in 1996 when Norfolk Southern, the successor to the NW, delivered several cars to Bramwell for display at a rebuilt depot.



Further Reading
a. Off the Beaten Path: West Virginia (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/01/09/off-the-beaten-path-west-virginia/
b. Gandy Creek Truss: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/west-virginia/gandy-creek-bridge/
c. Kate Hewltt Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/west-virginia/kate-hewltt-bridge-cr-2020/
d. Norfolk Western Railroad Bluestone Branch Bluestone River Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/west-virginia/norfolk-western-railroad-bluestone-branch-bluestone-river-bridge/

[seicer]

^Posted another update from today above this.

The Little Sandy River Bridge that formerly carried U.S. Route 23 in Greenup, Kentucky was down to the main truss span as of January 1. New abutments for a two lane bridge are in place.







A widened approach is also being constructed.



I still have concerns over the trusses - which date to 1884, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The crossing was used only 883 times a day in 1999, which is minimal, and could have been retained as a pedestrian span, with Kentucky State Route 2 and U.S. Route 23 used as a detour - adding no more miles and saving taxpayers nearly $5 million.

I also took the opportunity to photograph the four span plate girder bridge that carries CSX (ex-C&O) adjacent to the former U.S. Route 23 and current U.S. Route 23 bridge. It was most likely constructed in the mid 1920s as part of a railroad elevation project.





Further Reading
a. US 23 Little Sandy River Bridge Update: http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/01/18/us-23-little-sandy-river-bridge-update/
b. Little Sandy River Bridge (Formerly US 23): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/little-sandy-river-bridge-formerly-us-23/
c. Little Sandy River Bridge (CSX): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/chesapeake-and-ohio-little-sandy-river-bridge/

[seicer]

Northern Kentucky, with the exception of the Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area, is almost all rural with rolling terrain and large expanses of farmland. There is no better setting than that to take a drive into the country and capture and recapture some historic bridges on an unusually warm December afternoon in 2011.

I started off by heading eastward along the AA Highway to the Walcott Covered Bridge, which spans Locus Creek and formerly carried Kentucky State Route 1159. The covered span, built in 1824 and rebuilt in 1881 as a 74 foot King and Queenpost truss, was privately owned until 1953 when it was bypassed by a new concrete bridge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and reconstructed in 2002.





The pre-2002 site is still visible.



Elsewhere in the county is this unique bowstring Pony truss, one of the only bridges of its type in the state. Located just west of Augusta, this one lane span over Turtle Creek was recently given a new bridge deck. It may date to the early 1900s.







Another unique but perhaps not so historic bridge is the H.L. Spurlock Power Plant Bridge west of Maysville. The seven span, 700-foot long plate girder is impressive in that it crosses Lawrence Creek and Kentucky State Route 8, and was built in 1977 as a railroad trestle that carried ash from the power plant to a landfill. In 1997, the bridge was reconstructed into a truck bridge.



Southeast of Maysville is the Dixon Road Bridge, a Pony truss that crosses the North Fork Licking River. It was built around 1947.



Continuing along Dixon Road, I came across the Davis Lane Bridge southwest of Tollesboro. Crossing the North Fork Licking River, the one-lane Pratt through truss was constructed in 1894 by the Toledo Bridge Company. It was recently given a new aluminum paint job and looks wonderful.





I ended the day trip with the Kentucky State Route 32 Pony truss bridge over Scrubgrass Creek south of Myers, Kentucky in rural Nicholas County. Constructed in 1932, the span crosses over an ex-Louisville & Nashville Railroad, now TTI.







Further Reading
Historic Bridges of Northern Kentucky (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/01/19/historic-bridges-of-northern-kentucky/
Walcott Covered Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/walcott-bridge-formerly-ky-1159/
Turtle Creek Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/turtle-creek-bridge/
H.L. Spurlock Power Plant Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/h-l-spurlock-power-plant-bridge/
Dixon Road Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/dixon-road-bridge/
Davis Lane Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/davis-lane-bridge/
Scrubgrass Creek Bridge (KY 32): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/scrubgrass-creek-bridge-ky-32/

[seicer]

The Milton-Madison Bridge connects Milton, Kentucky to Madison, Indiana and carries U.S. Route 421 over the Ohio River. The historic two-lane Cantilever is currently being replaced in a design-build.



Constructed in 1928-1929, the two lane cantilever truss bridge cost over $1 million to construct and was financed with a 45 cent toll for automobile drivers. The span consists of a 5% approach grade and 19 spans, with five separate bridge design types. The Milton-Madison Bridge connected Kentucky State Routes 36, 37 and 42 with Indiana Highways 7, 29, 56 and 62.

On November 1, 1947, the toll was removed for the bridge and ownership of the span was transferred to the Kentucky Highway Department. The tolls were removed several years earlier than anticipated.

In 1997, the bridge received a thorough rehabilitation. The project included the replacement of the bridge deck, structural steel repairs, patching to existing concrete elements and a new paint overlay. Prior to the rehabilitation, the bridge required a weight restriction, which was removed after the work was completed.

In a 2006 fracture critical inspection, the bridge was given a rating of 4, or poor condition, on both main truss members and floor beams. While all of the truss members were adequate for Kentucky truck permit loadings, the crossing featured inventory ratings less than Inventory Loading (HS20). Issues included pack rust in numerous areas and pitting and section loss to truss members, exterior stringers and floor beams and lateral bracing members. The paint was also rated as fair, and was tarting to fail in several areas due to prior corrosion and poor adhesion. The deck was rated in good condition, although deck leaking was causing some stringers to rust beneath.

An estimated lifespan for the bridge without another rehabilitation was set at ten years.



In June 2008, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) launched the Milton-Madison Bridge Project in an effort to replace the aging bridge. The projected cost of the new bridge was $131 million, and it was expected that both states, Kentucky and Indiana, would identify state and federal funding sources for the cost of the project. The cost of the new bridge was split evenly between the states.

In February 2010, the bridge project received final federal environmental approval. In addition, the project received a boost when the project was awarded $20 million in funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. A project contract was advertised that June, and on September 23, the construction contract was awarded to Walsh Construction with a low bid of $103.9 million. Walsh's bid was the only one submitted that had a total closure time of the bridge of less than one year. Ground was broken on November 30 for the new bridge.

Construction began in January 2011 with the first phase of the project, which involved strengthening the existing piers.







Work on temporary approach ramps from Kentucky State Route 36 and Vaughn Drive began in the summer, which will allow for the existing approach ramps to be removed and replaced.









During that time, work began on the temporary downstream piers, and construction of the first truss for the new bridge for the downstream piers began in the fall. The 600-foot, 1,700-ton section of truss is being preassembled, and when the span is completed, the span will be floated upstream where several hydraulic jacks will lift the entire section into place onto temporary piers. A second truss, 727-foot long, will then be constructed and lifted into place onto the temporary piers.





At some point, two nearly completed bridges will be side by side. Traffic will be moved onto the new bridge via the temporary ramps, and the old Milton-Madison Bridge will be severed from the piers using controlled explosives. The bridge will be removed from the river with cranes within 24 hours. The total bridge closure time will only be ten days, less than an earlier projected closure date of one year due to the innovative construction techniques being deployed with this project. As such, ferries that were going to be deployed during the construction project may not be needed.

In late 2012, Walsh Construction Company will "slide"  the new bridge from its temporary piers onto the original but strengthened piers. The new bridge, which will include a pedestrian sidewalk and bike lanes, is expected to open by September 15, 2012.



Further Reading
a. Milton-Madison Ohio River Bridge Replacement (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/01/23/milton-madison-ohio-river-bridge-replacement/
b. Milton-Madison Bridge (US 421): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/milton-madison-bridge-us-421/

[seicer]

In late January, I made the trip to western Kentucky to visit the Eggner's Ferry Bridge collapse. En route, I was able to stop and photograph the William H. Natcher Bridge, which I have had an article about for years but lacked the photographs. The graceful cable-stayed suspension, connecting Owensboro to Indiana, carries U.S. Route 231 over the Ohio River.

The span is significant, not only for its impressive length at 4,505 feet, but for its unique design that involved the erection of two diamond-shaped concrete towers. Construction on the Natcher Bridge began in 1994 with the completion of two concrete piers, but due to funding issues, work did not progress nay further until 1998.

When construction did resume, work was at times slow due to weather and the complexity of working with the cables. Curing of the concrete was expedited by trucking in ice and circulating cold water from the Ohio River through the structure. Despite this, the project was two years behind schedule when it opened to traffic on October 22, 2002 at a cost of $57 million.

The bridge, the longest of its type in the United States over an inland waterway, is named after House Representative William H. Natcher from Kentucky, who served the public for 40 years and had never missed a call vote until his death on March 29, 1994. His involvement in the project was instrumental in securing funding for the span.

Accessing the bridge site from Kentucky was trickier than expected due to higher water levels along the Ohio River, leading to various access roads being flooded or impassable due to mud and sand.













Further Reading
a. William H. Natcher Bridge (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/02/15/william-h-natcher-bridge/
b. William H. Natcher Bridge (article with photos): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/william-h-natcher-bridge-us-231/

[seicer]

I recalled discovering the three crossings of Otter Creek along KY 90 in southern Kentucky quite a few years ago, but I could never locate the photographs I took back then. While in the area documenting the Battle of Mill Springs reenactment, I headed westward to recapture those crossings and to try to find any information about them.

What's unique is not their design but the many alignments over the bridge. The first span was most likely a truss or a covered bridge, but all that remains is the stone abutments.



In 1940, a three span concrete beam bridge was completed with a total length of 159 feet.





This was replaced with a revised alignment and crossing in 1949, with the bridge featuring a total span length of 320 feet.





Finally, in 1979, a new alignment of KY 90 was completed, which featured the erection of a three-span steel girder bridge with a total length of 526 feet.

The 2004 aerial below, from HistoricAerials.com, shows the 1940 and 1949 alignments. The 1979 alignment is to the north and east.



Further Reading
a. The Crossings of Otter Creek (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2012/02/16/the-crossings-of-otter-creek/
b. Otter Creek Bridges (KY 90): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/kentucky/otter-creek-bridge-ky-90/

[agentsteel53]

someday, when I become super awesome, I will take the name "Missy Bullet Prince".

[texaskdog]

While traveling to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan earlier in the fall, I came across the picturesque Cut River Bridge along U.S. Route 2 in Mackinac County. The Cantilever deck truss bridge was constructed from 1941 to 1946, and was one of two such spans in the state. The lengthy duration of construction for the 641 foot span was attributed to steel rationing during World War II.



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2 The Cut River Bridge was rehabilitated from 2008 to 2009.



3 The detailing on the bridge is original and quite nice.


4


Further Reading

a. Cut River Bridge (blog): http://bridgestunnels.com/2011/12/19/cut-river-bridge/
b. Cut River Bridge (article): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/michigan/cut-river-bridge/
c. Related - A Taste of the Upper Peninsula: http://www.americanbyways.com/2011/12/20/a-taste-of-the-upper-peninsula/

Wonder what the crossing was before that?

[hbelkins]

My best friend in high school's family had a place on Dale Hollow Lake, and he and I (and our brothers) would sometimes go down there to fish. Back in the late 70s I remembered crossing that second bridge and seeing the old bridge down below. However, it was nearly 30 years before I got to go back down there and see for myself first-hand, since the current KY 90 alignment runs well away from the two old bridges.

[seicer]

With a recent trip to western Kentucky, I opted to meander along the Ohio River to visit a part of the state that I had neglected for my nearly 27 years of existence. This was only my second trip to the Owensboro region, and my first to the Jackson Purchase region of the state, and there were many impressive and historic spans to consider and photograph.

The first major crossing that I came across was the Lincoln Trail Bridge between Cannelton, Indiana and Hawesville, Kentucky, connecting to IN 237 and KY 69. The first crossing near this location was the Hawesville ferry, which was in operation from 1831 to the opening of the two-lane steel trussed through bridge on December 21, 1966. The Lincoln Trail Bridge was tolled until the 1990s.

Thankfully, the rust-colored span is slated for repainting in 2012.





Crossing between Paducah, Kentucky and Brookport, Illinois is the Brookport-Paducah Bridge that carries US 45 over the Ohio River. Opened to traffic on May 8, 1929, the 5,300-foot ten-span crossing was built by the Rouse Construction Company, the Union Bridge and Construction Company and the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company. The designs vary on the bridge, from three Warren pony trusses, to one Parker through truss, nine Warren through trusses and four deck trusses. The bridge is narrow — the deck width is less than 20 feet wide, and sharp bends in the spans make driving across it an adventure.





Below is a 20 minute exposure of the span, with the Ohio River at a slightly elevated level.



The Paducah Ohio River Bridge carries Interstate 24 over the Ohio River between Paducah, Kentucky and Metropolis, Illinois. Constructed in 1973, the four-lane, two-span tied arch bridge functionally replaced the narrow Brookport-Paducah Bridge as the through route between the two states. The southern arch span measures 730 feet in length, while the northern arch span measures 630 feet in length. The bridge also features 17 continuous stringer approach spans.







Further west, at Wickliffe, is the cantilevered Warren through truss over the Ohio River that carries US 51, US 60 and US 62. Designed by Modjeski and Masters and completed by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company and the Mount Vernon Bridge Company, the narrow two-lane route was completed in 1933. A toll was levied by the Cairo Bridge Commission until the construction bonds were paid off in 1948.









Cairo, Illinois is also served by the Illinois Central Railroad Bridge over the Ohio River, a major through line that is currently used by Canadian National Railway. It was the first railroad link completed between Chicago and New Orleans, and revolutionized rail travel along the Mississippi River.

The need for a railroad bridge in Cairo was great by the late 1800s, when as many as 500,000 railroad cars were being ferried across the Mississippi and Ohio River each year. Those shipments were valued at $60 million, the highest per capita in the nation. The Illinois Central (IC), incorporated in 1851, extended from Galena to Cairo, and connected major industrial and agricultural centers in Illinois. At Cairo, the IC connected to the rivers, taking advantage of the burgeoning steamboat traffic along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. At the time of its completion, the IC was the lognest single railroad operating in the United States at 700 miles in length.

The first bridge discussion came in January 1859 from James Clarke, IC Master of Transportation, who noted that the railroad's natural connections were with the railroads leading to Mobile and New Orleans. But the passage of the Ohio River Bridges Act in 1872, heralded as a victory by steamboat operators, required more extensive planning, map, and profiles be developed for a crossing over the Ohio River than any other navigable waterway.

It was not until March 1887 that a site visit was made and the first proposal was evaluated. The proposed bridge site featured a river width of 4,000 feet. Two miles upriver, the width narrowed to around 3,000 feet, which raised the possibility of filling in with stone some of the shoreline to narrow the channel. But that idea was rejected, leading the engineers to design a 52 truss steel span bridge with a length of 10,560 feet, the longest of any metal bridge in the world. The total length, including trestles, was 20,461 feet, or 3.875 miles. The channel portion of the crossing consisted of nine pin-connected, Whipple through truss spans, two of which were 518.5 feet long and the other seven 400 feet long, and three 249 foot Pratt deck spans. The pin-connected Whipple trusses were also 18 inches longer than the 1877 Cincinnati Southern bridge as well. But the lengths of the Whipple trusses double panel diagonals led to less rigidity under load.

The contract with the War Department stipulated that work on the Cairo crossing be started before March 29, 1887, and pile driving for the Kentucky approach had already commenced when Morison began preparing construction plans for the main spans. The contract was awarded in May to Union Bridge Company for the superstructure.

By the end of August 1889, the steelworkers from Baird had completed the last through truss.



Shortly after 9 AM on October 29, the first train crossed the bridge from Illinois into Kentucky. Work still remained on the bridge, which included construction on the floor, painting and other minor details that continued until March 1, 1890. The total cost was $2,675,457.92, or just slightly more than $200,000 over the original estimate.

Construction began in 1949 on a replacement truss for the Ohio River crossing, utilizing many of the original bridge piers. Built while keeping the existing span in place, work on the through truss was completed in 1952.





Click through to the Cairo Ohio River Bridge (Illinois Central Railroad) for an exhaustive history of this historic bridge.

Further Reading
a. Lincoln Trail Bridge: http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/lincoln-trail-bridge/
b. Brookport-Paducah Bridge (US 45): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/brookport-paducah-bridge-us-45/
c. Paducah Ohio River Bridge (Interstate 24): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/paducah-ohio-river-bridge-interstate-24/
d. Cairo Ohio River Bridge (US 51, US 60, US 62): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/cairo-ohio-river-bridge-us-51-us-60-us-62/
e. Cairo Ohio River Bridge (Illinois Central Railroad): http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/ohio-river/cairo-ohio-river-bridge-illinois-central-railroad/

[JREwing78]

While traveling to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan earlier in the fall, I came across the picturesque Cut River Bridge along U.S. Route 2 in Mackinac County. The Cantilever deck truss bridge was constructed from 1941 to 1946, and was one of two such spans in the state. The lengthy duration of construction for the 641 foot span was attributed to steel rationing during World War II.

Wonder what the crossing was before that?

There's a Cut River Rd that crosses the river upstream from its outlet on Lake Michigan.
http://g.co/maps/5ek6u

[kphoger]

I'm familiar with the bridges across the Ohio around there.  When I lived in southern Illinois, my very first day driving a delivery truck included driving across the Wickliffe bridge; it was under construction, and the single open lane was restricted even further; how nervous was I!  I would drive across the Brookport bridge every so often, as I sometimes would make deliveries in both Brookport and Paducah; my wife doesn't like high bridges, yet I drove her over it once on our way to pick up the moving truck that would bring us to Kansas (she didn't thank me).  While I was working for the same supply company, one of our other drivers was involved in a multicar pileup on the I-24 bridge; traffic was at a dead stop, he hit the brakes not knowing the rear ones weren't working, and his truck rear-ended a Corvette, which rear-ended another Corvette; all of this high over the Ohio River itself; when the cops tested the truck and found the inspection sticker to be out of date and the rear brakes not functioning, they hauled the truck away and the company owner had to pick the driver up; big law suit.

For nearby bridges, I recommend Shawneetown and Chester.

[agentsteel53]

Thankfully, the rust-colored span is slated for repainting in 2012.

I actually like the way that bridge looks with the rusting on it.  is it threatening to become a structural problem?