Bridgeport Iron Bridge

1893: Photo taken 1976 from LOC

Also called the Wheeling and Belmont or back channel bridge. Built in 1893 by engineer William Hildebrand. Used original piers of covered bridge. Carried traffic until 1998 when replaced by new bridge whose name I don't know! [/References Intelligencer, 1999]

"Over the back channel of the Ohio River, carrying US 40 between Wheeling (Wheeling Island), Ohio County, West Virginia, and Bridgeport, Belmont County, Ohio.

Built in 1893, the Bridgeport Bridge represented one type of bridges which could be ordered from catalogues at the end of the nineteenth century. Except for the replacement of the partially wooden roadway surface with steel grating in 1950, the bridge remained basically unchanged.

Because the floor beams had become structurally unsound, a new self-supporting, load-bearing deck structure was installed inside the trusses of the Bridgeport Bridge in 1987. Designed as a temporary means of carrying traffic until a new vehicular bridge is built, the deck installed was prefabricated in England and is a modern-day successor to the Bailey bridge type. Current plans call for the building of a new vehicular bridge upstream. The Bridgeport bridge will remain as a pedestrail and bicycle bridge."

from 1988 Historic American Engineering Record at Library of Congress files LOC photos and text

Jan 11, 2008 The Intelligencer (Wheeling newspaper): Deck structure installed 20 years ago being removed to recover $1.4 million worth of steel to be used in other state projects. Bridge will be closed to vehicle and foot traffic (it has been closed for some years). There is no schedule to remove the rest of the bridge, but the US Coast Guard, which strangely has authority over bridges, stated that there are two Wheeling Island bridges that must be removed; presumably the other one is the [/Georgia%20St%20Bridge Georgia St Bridge].

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Photos taken March 1, 2008
 
 
 
 Recent images.
 
 Google Maps View
 

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Library of Congress photo of the Island side when the bridge was still used.

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