Hope Memorial Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope Memorial Bridge
The Lorain-Carnegie Bridge in 1988
Carries	Route 10 (Carnegie Avenue)
Crosses	Cuyahoga River
Locale	Cleveland, Ohio
Design	art deco truss bridge
Total length	5,865 foot (1,787 meter)
Clearance below	93 feet (28 meters)
Completion date	1932
Coordinates	41°29′22″N 81°41′37″W / 41.489407, -81.693554 (Hope Memorial bridge)Coordinates: 41°29′22″N 81°41′37″W / 41.489407, -81.693554 (Hope Memorial bridge)

One of the "Guardians of Traffic"

The Hope Memorial Bridge (formerly the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge) is a 5,865 foot (1,787 meter) long art deco truss bridge crossing the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. It stands 93 feet (28 meters) above the waterline in order to allow shipping to pass. The bridge connects Lorain Avenue on Cleveland's west side and Carnegie Avenue on the east side, terminating just short of Progressive Field. Pairs of statues designed by sculptor Henry Hering and architect Frank Walker (titled the "Guardians of Traffic") stand on pylons at each end of the viaduct, symbolizing progress in transportation. A second lower deck designed to carry truck and commercial traffic was never put into service.

A bond issue to pay for the bridge was passed in 1921, but construction was delayed for years due to squabbles over how the money would be spent. The bridge was completed in 1932 at a cost of $4.75M. It was renovated in the 1980s and renamed in honor of William Henry Hope, a local stonemason and father of Bob Hope. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 8, 1976, after a controversy in which county engineer Albert Porter threatened to remove the historic pylons to widen the span, stating, "Those columns are monstrosities and should be torn down and forgotten. There is nothing particularly historic about any one of them. We're not running a May Show here."^[1]