Pomeroy–Mason Bridge

Pomeroy–Mason Bridge

View of bridge from West Virginia side
Official name Bridge of Honor
Carries 4 lanes of vehicle traffic & 1 sidewalk
Crosses Ohio River
Locale Pomeroy, Ohio/Mason, West Virginia
Maintained by West Virginia Department of Transportation
Designer URS Corp[1]
Design Cable Stayed
Material Concrete
Total length 1,852 feet (564 m)
Width 77 feet (23 m)
Height 248 feet (76 m)
Longest span 675 feet (206 m)
Number of spans 10
Piers in water 2
Clearance below 74 feet (23 m)
Construction begin 2003
Construction end 2008
Opened December 30, 2008

The Bridge of Honor, commonly known as the Pomeroy–Mason Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Ohio River between the American cities of Pomeroy, Ohio and Mason, West Virginia.[2] With construction being carried out by the C.J. Mahan Construction Company and overseen by the Ohio Department of Transportation, it was completed on December 30, 2008.[3][4] The crossing carries Ohio State Route 833 which connects to West Virginia Route 62.

Contents

Construction issues

The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2006. However, numerous unforeseen issues delayed the construction. Although work began in 2003, river flooding, poor soil stability, a rock slide, and potentially problematic formwork all caused setbacks in the building process. The final cost of the bridge was approximately US$65,000,000.[5]

At night, the bridge is illuminated by purple lights shining on the cables and towers as shown here

Former bridge

Constructed in 1928, the two-lane Cantilever bridge span once carried U.S. Highway 33. In 2003, it was renumbered to State Route 833 when US 33 was relocated along a new super-two highway to the Ravenswood Bridge. The original two-lane span's center span was demolished on at 8:49 a.m. EDT on April 21, 2009, with several hundred spectators viewing from the Pomeroy levee. The demolition was also broadcast live via an Internet feed on WSAZ from Huntington, West Virginia. An eight-year-old boy was selected to press the detonation button. River traffic was halted for twenty-four hours to allow for clean-up.[6] The remainder of the bridge was removed by June 2009. The cost to remove the center span was approximately $1 million US.

See also

References

External links