In late April, Todd Wilson, an award-winning transportation engineer and author of BridgeMapper, visited Charleston, West Virginia, for work. I joined Todd to capture some late evening sights in Kanawha and Roane Counties.
We began with a quick tour of the West Virginia State Capitol complex before visiting the recently repainted Chuck Yeager Bridges. These twin steel through arch bridges carry the West Virginia Turnpike and Interstates 64 and 77 over the Kanawha River. The first span was completed in 1954, with a parallel span added in 1983. Both were repainted in the state’s official colors, blue and gold, between 2021 and 2023. The repainting project was completed in October and dedicated on October 13 with a ceremony that featured a flyover by a P-51 airplane and was attended by Yeager’s wife, Victoria, and Governor Jim Justice. This event coincided with the 76th anniversary of Yeager becoming the first man to break the sound barrier in 1947.
Next, we visited the Carter Memorial Bridge, which carries Interstate 64 over the Kanawha River in downtown Charleston. Completed in 1974, this Warren through truss bridge has a distinctive arch profile and is the busiest roadway structure in the state. Ashby Avenue in the Fort Hill neighborhood offers a convenient overlook of the bridge and downtown.
We then stopped along US Route 119 to photograph a unique concrete closed-spandrel arch bridge over McKown Creek that is being replaced. Originally built in 1907 as a one-lane structure with a main span width of 40 feet, it was later widened to 26 feet to accommodate two narrow lanes. It has a poor superstructure rating and a sufficiency rating of only 34 out of 100. Due to its lack of notable historical or aesthetic value and poor functional characteristics, it is being replaced with a modern concrete beam structure. Adjacent is another aged concrete beam bridge on County Route 54 (McKowns Creek Road) that was built in 1898.
Turning onto County Route 34 near the town of Walton, we passed by an impressive concrete two-span closed-spandrel arch bridge over the Pocatalico River. Built in 1910, this bridge has a total length of 107 feet and a width of 13.1 feet. It is in surprisingly good condition.
In the past, I would not have stopped to photograph a bridge of this type, as they were once very common across West Virginia. However, as time progressed, these bridges increasingly became targets for replacement due to growing load demands and higher traffic volumes. Once ubiquitous, many of these structures have now been replaced by modern alternatives, making those that remain more significant and worthy of documentation.
We concluded our tour at another soon-to-be-lost bridge near Mattie Gap. This steel bridge over the Pocatalico River on County Route 34 is a Pratt through truss constructed in 1899 by the Canton Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio. The one-lane structure is 103 feet long, with a deck width of 11.8 feet and a vertical clearance of 12.9 feet. It is structurally deficient, with a sufficiency rating of 19.6 out of 100. I am curious why a rehabilitation alternative was not considered, as it only carries 150 vehicles daily.
This journey underscored the rapid changes in infrastructure across West Virginia. It highlighted the importance of documenting these historical structures before they disappear, preserving their memory for future generations.