Silver Bridge ( Eng. Silver Bridge ) - a bridge that passes over the Ohio River and connects Point Pleasant (West Virginia) and ( Ohio ). It was built in 1928 and had a 213-meter central span and two 115-meter side spans. In the structure of the bridge, rod pendants ( eyebars - “rods with eyelets at the ends”) were used instead of traditional cables. In 1967, the bridge collapsed. Instead, in 1969, the was built.
| Silver Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Silver Bridge after construction in 1928 | |
| Application area | Automotive |
| Crosses | R. Ohio |
| Location | |
| Design | |
| Type of construction | suspension |
| Material | steel |
| Number of spans | 3 |
| total length | 443 m |
| Exploitation | |
| Opening | 1928 |
| Closing | 1967 |
Upstream is the .
Bridge collapse
December 15, 1967 at 17:00 Silver Bridge collapsed. The load from the traffic flow increased before Christmas caused the destruction of one of the rod pendants (the destruction occurred along a 2.5 mm crack on suspension No. 330), which led to the chain destruction of the bridge structure. According to eyewitnesses, the bridge completely collapsed within one minute. 46 people died.
Reasons to
The defect in the bridge construction was difficult to notice during the inspections. Inspection prior to the erection of structures would not allow to notice such a small crack. The only way to detect a defect would be the disconnection of the suspension rod. The defect detection technology used at the time did not allow detection of such cracks.
After this catastrophe, new standards for checking the condition of bridges were introduced. One of the two similar bridges was immediately closed and then destroyed in 1971, the second after the inspection was used until 1991.
Tragedies were allegedly preceded by multiple paranormal phenomena, which were described in detail by journalist John Keel in The Mothman Prophecies (1975).
Silver Bridge in Art and Culture
- 2002 - “ Moth Man ” - the collapse of the Silver Bridge is shown at the end of the film (with some deviations from reality).