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St. Marys Bridge

The St. Marys Bridge, also known as the Hi Carpenter Memorial Bridge, carries WV Route 807 over the Ohio River between Newport, Ohio and St. Marys, West Virginia. It replaced a suspension crossing that had been deemed unsafe for all traffic.



The St. Marys Bridge, an eyebar suspension crossing, opened in 1928. 1 It was closed immediately out of safety concerns after the collapse of the similarly-designed Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967.

Constructed by the E. Lionel Pavlo Engineering Company, the new four-lane St. Marys Bridge opened in 1977. It was named after Hi Carpenter, a well-known riverman who began his long career ferrying mail between Raven Rock and Leith, Ohio when he was 13 years old. 2 His greatest undertaking was building the Short Route Bridge in 1928.


Details

  • State: Ohio, West Virginia
  • Route: WV Route 807, OH Route 807
  • Status: Active (Automobile)
  • Type: Warren through truss
  • Total Length: 2,583 feet
  • Main Span Length: 900 feet
  • Spans:
  • Deck Width: 64 feet
  • Roadway Width: 0
  • Height of Structure: 0
  • Above Vertical Clearance: 0
  • Navigational Clearance:


Sources

  1. LeRose, Chris. “The Collapse of the Silver Bridge.” West Virginia Historical Society.
  2. James H. O’Donnell: Out of the Mud: Hiram Carpenter and the Ohio River Valley, 1880-1950, John Deaver Drinko Academy, Huntington, 2010.

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