Silver Bridge, part 4

(This article originally ran in The Herald-Dispatch on Dec. 28, 1999, as part of a package looking back at the 20th century).

There was no way to know the Silver Bridge was in danger of falling without taking it apart.

At 4:58 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1967, the bridge was filled with rush-hour and Christmas shopping traffic. A steel pin in the superstructure broke, a joint flew apart and the bridge fell into the cold Ohio River, carrying 46 people to their deaths.

Over the next few days, recovery workers pulled bodies and vehicles out of the Ohio.

The collapse shocked Point Pleasant, W.Va., and Gallipolis, Ohio, the two communities connected by the 39-year-old bridge. It also spurred the nation into re-assessing how it maintained and inspected bridges.

The Silver Bridge was a type of suspension bridge. Instead of using woven steel wires to hold up the roadway, it used what were called eyebars. They were assembled similar to the way a bicycle chain is. If one link fails, the whole chain does.

That's what happened that night in Point Pleasant.

The Silver Bridge had not received a thorough inspection since 1951. The problem that led to the collapse could not have been detected with the technology available in 1967.

But the disaster did spur changes in inspections. Now bridges are inspected at least every two years. Those with problems are inspected at least once a year, and sometimes more often. That was the case with the old 6th Street Bridge in Huntington, which was replaced in 1994 by the new Robert C. Byrd Bridge.

Wilson Braley, district administrator for the West Virginia Division of Highways, said the Silver Bridge collapse spurred the legislation requiring frequent inspections.

"To say that we do not have bridge problems is an exaggeration, but we very much know the condition of our bridges. That in itself is a comforting thought. When I first went to work here 25 years ago, when the inspection program was in its infancy, we found deficiencies we didn't know existed," Braley said.

But now, with the frequent inspections, highway officials aren't surprised, Braley said. The inspections find deterioration the bridge engineers expect, but they seldom find anything that is unexpected, he said.

"There hasn't been a surprise in years around here. We know the condition of our bridges," Braley said.

But that didn't happen overnight. Getting a good handle on the condition of every bridge in the state took about 10 years, Braley said.

Some bridges have their weight limits lowered after inspections show significant deterioration. Most of those bridges will be gone soon, Braley said.

"There is a goal now to have all significant posted bridges replaced by the year 2007. That's not to say every posted bridge. There are a few covered bridges we will not tear down, and a few bridges there's no need to replace," he said.

That's why the Blue Sulphur Bridge and the Inco Bridge in Cabell County are being replaced now, and the U.S. 60 bridge over Twelvepole Creek is scheduled to be replaced, Braley said.

Two years to the day after the Silver Bridge collapse, the new four-lane Silver Memorial Bridge opened. It was the first four-lane bridge over the Ohio River between Parkersburg and Cincinnati.

It may be hard to believe, but soon the Nick Joe Rahall II Bridge between Huntington and Lawrence County, Ohio, will be as old as the Silver Bridge was when it fell. That bridge received an extensive repair and repainting job that kept it closed for most of last year.

Memories of the Silver Bridge remain in Point Pleasant. Last year, crews were ready to demolish the old Shadle Bridge over the Kanawha River between Point Pleasant and Henderson but delayed their work a day so it would not fall on Dec. 15.