Wheeling Suspension Bridge - Historic National Road - WV - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge was opened in 1851. It was designed by Charles Ellet Jr., who also worked on the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. The Wheeling bridge was the first to span the Ohio River, and was an important link on the National Road.

The main span is 1,010 feet (310 m) from tower to tower. The east tower rests on the Wheeling shore, while the west tower is on Zane's Island. The east tower is 153.5 feet (46.8 m) above the low-water level of the river, or 82 feet (25 m) from the base of the masonry. The west tower is 132.75 feet (40.46 m) above low water, with 69 feet (21 m) of masonry.

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 15, 1975.

The initial competition to build the bridge included Charles Ellet and John A. Roebling. A charter was granted to the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company in 1816 to construct a bridge to extend the Cumberland Pike, which was to be completed in 1818, to Ohio. After a number of delays, a new bridge charter was obtained in 1847. Ellet and Roebling were invited to submit designs and estimates for a bridge over the east channel of the river to Wheeling Island. In doing so, the design was set as a suspension bridge, as Ellet and Roebling were the foremost authorities on the type. Ellet received the contract award in 1847 and began the same year. The bridge was completed in 1849.

On May 17, 1854 a strong windstorm destroyed the deck of the bridge through torsional movement and vertical undulations that rose almost as high as the towers. Ellet rebuilt it, followed by improvements in 1859 by Ellett's partner William McComas, and in 1874 by William Hildenbrand. A 1953 report indicates that the suspension cables are either original or the work of the 1860 reconstruction. The deck stiffening truss is believed to be from the same period. Auxiliary stay cables were added in 1871-72 to a design by Washington Roebling and Hildebrand. The deck was completely rebuilt in 1956, when the road was widened from 16.25 feet (4.95 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) and the sidewalks were correspondingly narrowed. The road and sidewalk were reconstructed with an open steel grating that reduces wind resistance, and rests on lightened steel floor beams. In the early 1980s, the West Virginia Department of Highways restored the bridge. The bridge remains in active service.

The bridge spans a distance of 1,010 feet (308 m) across the Ohio River and allows barges to pass underneath. It remains the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in the United States still in use and is listed as both a National Historic Landmark and Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

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Program: America's Byways Website: [Web Link] Official Name: Historic National Road - West Virginia

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