Silver Bridge Collapse

The Silver Bridge (opened May 18, 1928, collapsed December 15, 1967) carried US-35 across the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, WV and Gallipolis, OH. It was a two-lane suspension bridge.

After the collapse, a new bridge was opened about a mile downstream (south) of the original span location. This four-lane cantilever span bridge is named the Silver Memorial Bridge and it currently carries US-35 across the river.

Who remembers that event?

Wasn't the Silver Bridge failure the event that led to the current bridge inspection program? And the emphasis on redundant design for new construction?

willem said:

Wasn't the Silver Bridge failure the event that led to the current bridge inspection program? And the emphasis on redundant design for new construction?

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As far as I know, yes.

What's also interesting is that the Three Sisters Bridges in Pittsburgh, PA, were designed the same way as the Silver Bridge was; yet they are still standing. However, I do think that the Sisters have more redundancy in their design and construction than the SB did.

I just watched a documentary on YouTube about this yesterday. Pretty informative.

mlanoue said:

I just watched a documentary on YouTube about this yesterday. Pretty informative.

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I remember when the Silver Bridge collapsed; I was living on the East Coast at the time.

No, but I remember when the Sunshine Skyway Bridge south of St. Petersburg was hit by a ship and one of the spans collapsed (May 9, 1980).

trainman74 said:

No, but I remember when the Sunshine Skyway Bridge south of St. Petersburg was hit by a ship and one of the spans collapsed (May 9, 1980).

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I've watched a couple of Youtube videos about this incident too. I don't remember it happening at the time; I was about 3 1/2 years old.

Yes, I remember the event. I was a sophomore in high school and it happened during the Christmas season. Very cold and a great tragedy as many cars went into the river and along the bank. They closed all of the bridges for inspections and eventually tore down a few that had structural flaws similar to the Silver Bridge. My parents took us down to the scene and saw the twisted metal and the enormity of the accident. A sad day for those families.

LookingGlassTie said:

The Silver Bridge (opened May 18, 1928, collapsed December 15, 1967) carried US-35 across the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, WV and Gallipolis, OH. It was a two-lane suspension bridge.

After the collapse, a new bridge was opened about a mile downstream (south) of the original span location. This four-lane cantilever span bridge is named the Silver Memorial Bridge and it currently carries US-35 across the river.

Who remembers that event?

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This was before my time. Last bridge collapses I remember was the pedestrian bridge collapse under construction and the collapse of the bridge in Genoa, Italy.

There have been lots of new bridges and maintenance on existing bridges and few total collapses. I believe rail bridges have gone on fire and been replaced and a fire on car overpasses which were replaced. The project near Atlanta, Georgia was pretty fast after a fire damaged the overpass.

The risk of bridge failures now inside the USA is lower than ever as replacement. refurbishment and maintenance have been stepped up on rail bridges, and vehicle bridges alike. The Whirlpool Amtrak rail bridge between USA and Canada is now seeing work done which is almost finished. Too many projects to name across the country and at border crossings.