Silver Bridge, part 2

My memories of the Silver Bridge itself are sparse. The few times I crossed it or passed it, I never really paid attention to the structure. About all I remember are a grocery store called Tiny's Foodland at the Ohio end and the traffic signal on the Point Pleasant end. My mind must have something messed up, because I want to recall that the green light was on top and the red light on bottom. That must have been a dream that I confused with reality.

I do remember seeing the bridge in the water on the afternoon of Dec. 17 when we took a family drive past the bridge.

I have to admit bridges did interest me when I was younger. At one time I had an interest in being a bridge designer when I grew up. For whatever reason, that desire ebbed in my teen years. But I still made sure that on the rare occasions I made it up or down the river, I took note of the design of the various bridges I saw.

I was surprised that the old Maysville bridge was a suspension bridge. And in 1986, I was absolutely shocked to see the Ohio River bridge at St. Marys, W.Va. It was a duplicate of the Silver Memorial Bridge, except that it was painted a color closer to white. When I drove across it, I noticed it had a sidewalk, which the Silver Memorial Bridge does not.

(Bridges in this area with sidewalks: Pomeroy-Mason, Robert C. Byrd, Ben Williamson, Ironton-Russell. Without: Silver Memorial, East Huntington, Simeon Willis. Not sure: West 17th Street, Ben Williamson. I think the Ben Williamson does and the 17th Street doesn't, but I'm ashamed to admit I'm not sure.).

I liked many of the old bridges, but the 6th Street Bridge always bothered me. Too much rust. And if you looked way up high at the top of the towers, you saw what looked like eyebars. Those were the pieces on the Silver Bridge that popped apart and led to the collapse.

In 1985, I think it was, I was working on a story about commercial fishing on the Ohio River. A fellow who ran a pay fishing lake out back of Chesapeake, Ohio, took me on a trip to check his hoop nets. We went under the 6th Street Bridge and I looked up. I regretted it. It was a month before I could cross that bridge with the slightest degree of confidence. Rust and corrosion everywhere.

(One more installment to come).