The Ivydale Bridge carries County Route 46 over the Elk River in Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia.
The first bridge at Ivydale over the Elk River was completed circa 1902. 3 An application for authority to construct a replacement structure was approved by the War Department’s Secretary of War in February 1930; approval was required as it crossed a navigable waterway. Plans for the new Ivydale Bridge were approved in November 1938, and a bid for its construction was awarded in 1939 to E. R. Mills of Frankfort, Kentucky, for the cost of $28.957. 2 5 The bridge components were fabricated by the Pan-American Bridge Company of New Castle, Indiana, 5 6 with the concrete wing walls built by the Works Progress Administration. 6 Two stone piers from the prior bridge were reused.
The Ivydale Bridge was later named for former state representative J.C. Cruikshank from Ivyddale. 6
A $3.6 million contract to replace the load-restricted 1939 structure was awarded in November 2021 to the Rock Fork Bridge Company. 1
Details
- State: West Virginia
- Route: County Route 46
- Status: Active (Automobile)
- Type: Parker Through Truss
- Total Length: 338 feet
- Main Span Length: 163 feet
- Spans: 0
- Deck Width: 16.7 feet
- Roadway Width: 0
- Height of Structure: 0
- Above Vertical Clearance: 13.9 feet
- Navigational Clearance: 0
Sources
- “Six bridge replacements among 19 projects awarded by Division of Highways.” West Virginia Department of Transportation, 23 Nov. 2021.
- “Bids Scanned on Road Work.” Charleston Daily Mail, 17 Jan. 1939, p. 14.
- Charleston Daily Mail, 2 Feb. 1930, p. 13.
- “Plan for Ivydale Bridge Approved.” Charleston Daily Mail, 20 Nov. 1938, p. 10.
- Mead & Hunt and KCI. “Ivydale Bridge.” West Virginia Historic Bridge Inventory Form, 2013.
- Cress, Dana. “Ivydale Bridge.” GAI Consultants, Jan. 2019.