Daniel Carter Beard Bridge
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| Daniel Carter Beard Bridge | |
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| Carries | 8 lanes of I-471 |
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| Crosses | Ohio River |
| Locale | Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Longest span | 230.92 meters (757.6 feet) |
| Total length | 639.93 meters (2,099.5 feet) |
| Width | 15.27 meters (50.1 feet) |
| Vertical clearance | 5.49 meters (18 feet) |
| AADT | 97,900 |
| Opening date | January 1976 (southbound) December 1976 (northbound) |
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The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is a twin span steel tied-arch bridge crossing the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio. It carries Interstate 471 between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Newport, Kentucky. The bridge is nicknamed locally "The Big Mac Bridge" or "The McDonald's Bridge". Conflicting stories exist as to the origin of this nickname. One is that its yellow arches are similar to the "Golden Arches" logo of McDonald's restaurant. The other states that the nickname came from a planned floating McDonald's that was to be built on an adjacent barge. This restaurant was never built, but the nickname for the bridge remained. In fact, the nickname was coined by local residents after the bridges golden arches were constructed. McDonalds considered opening a restaurant at the base after the nickname caught on, but never went to construction. This bridge has a main span of 750 feet and has a total span of 2100 feet. It is named in honor of Daniel Carter Beard, the founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone and one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America.
The bridge was originally configured with 3 lanes and an emergency shoulder on each span. In December 2000, with the completion of a reconstruction project on the 3rd Street Viaduct approach, the bridge was reconfigured to 4 lanes on each span. There have been suggestions of constructing two new 3-lane bridges, one on either side of the current spans, to meet increasing traffic volume.
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[edit] External links
| Bridges of the Ohio River | |||
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| Upstream Combs-Hehl Bridge  |
Daniel Carter Beard Bridge |
Downstream Newport Southbank Bridge Pedestrian |
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