The damage to the link would have been difficult to see during inspection of the bridge: Inspection prior to construction would not have been able to notice the tiny crack ... the only way to detect the fracture would have been to disassemble the eye-bar. Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the icy waters of the Ohio River. Following Fowler were the names of all 46 victims read aloud by Miss Ohio Megan Wise, Carolin Harris, owner of Harris’ Steakhouse and the Rev. A small crack was formed through fretting wear at the bearing, and grew through internal corrosion, a problem known as stress corrosion cracking. [citation needed]. At about 5 p.m. on December 15, the eyebar failed, setting off a series of other failures that caused the bridge to collapse. The speed limit on the bridge is 65 mph (105 km/h). The collapsed bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge, which was completed in 1969. On the lower ground floor, the museum displayed an eyebar assembly from the original bridge. In early September 2009, the failure of an eyebar in the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was discovered during a scheduled closure, resulting in an emergency repair to reinforce the failed member. Instead he points to the future. Jack Fowler of the Point Pleasant River Museum and Learning Center speaks about why the bridge fell and what it meant to the community. During the Brooklyn Bridge's construction it was discovered that some rejected steel wire had been used. For the communities in Gallia, Mason, and Meigs, it was an event which everyone living at the time remembers where they were when they heard the bridge had collapsed. The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. We appreciate you sharing our content on social media. It was the first bridge in the nation to use an innovative eyebar-link suspension system rather than a traditional wire-cable suspension. The bridge carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. "If there is anything positive about the Silver Bridge failure", he concludes, "it is that its legacy should be to remind engineers to proceed always with the utmost caution, ever mindful of the possible existence of unknown unknowns and the potential consequences of even the smallest design decisions". [7], He does not fault the bridge's designers, who were ignorant of many of these hazards. Harris paused when reading the name of her own son, James Timothy Meadows, who was three years old at the time of the collapse and was on the bridge with his father, James F. Meadows, who also perished. It was devastating. Jimmy Joe Wedge, second from left, and Chayston Handley, third from left, lit the star and actual tree, respectively. In 1983 the Mianus River Bridge in Greenwich, Connecticut, collapsed, causing the deaths of three drivers. When the lower side of the eyebar failed, all the load was transferred to the other side of the eyebar, which then failed by ductile overload. Then, a memorial, lighted wreath was placed by Billings, Doolittle and fellow Commissioners Rick Handley and Miles Epling and Point Pleasant Police Chief Joe Veith. The collapse inspired legislation to ensure that older bridges were regularly inspected and maintained; however, aging infrastructure is still a problem in the United States. It was the first bridge in the world to be coated with aluminum. Twenty-one people survived, but 46 died in the disaster. Some people say the number should be 47, as one of the bridge’s victims was pregnant. “We live it every day,” Fowler said when talking about the museum’s staff, including Martha and Ruth Fout, who co-authored a book on the subject, its collection, and the people that collection draws to it to gain insight into the disaster and the victims. Wedge lost both his parents in the collapse and Handley, a student at Leon Elementary, has been battling cancer. “In less than one minute, we lost 46 people.”. The maximum permitted truck gross weight was about 20,000 pounds (9 tonnes). Two of those victims were never recovered. When the Silver Bridge fell 32 vehicles were destroyed and it claimed 46 lives. A large crowd gathered to see the lighting and pay their respects to the 46 victims. The bridge was completed in 1969 as a replacement for the collapsed Silver Bridge, although it is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) downstream (south) of the original.[11]. The joint was then held together only by three eyebars, and another slipped off the pin at the center of the bearing, so the chain was completely severed. Billings then introduced Jack Fowler, of the Point Pleasant River Museum and Learning Center, which houses a massive collection of artifacts on the tragedy, as well as a model of the bridge. The towers were "rocker" towers (a design common in Europe), which allowed the bridge to respond to various live loads by a slight tipping of the supporting towers, which were parted at the deck level, rather than passing the suspension chain over a lubricated or tipping saddle, or by stressing the towers in bending. These are the names of those whose bodies were recovered: Albert A. Adler, Jr, Gallipolis, OH J. O. Bennnett, Walnut Cove, NC Leo Blackman, Richmond, VA Kristye Boggs, Vinton, OH Margaret Boggs, Vinton, OH Hilda Byus… The I-35W Mississippi River bridge disaster in 2007 resulted in 13 deaths. Four W.Va. At the time of the Silver Bridge construction, eyebar bridges had been built for about 100 years. Fowler then talked about the bridge not being designed to hold the weight of increasing traffic and heavier vehicles over the years and the “one-eighth of an inch crack” in one of the structure’s eyebars that caused the disaster. The designer's son, Washington Roebling, decided the safety factor may have been reduced, but was far more than sufficient.[4]. Here is a link to that story: https://www.mydailyregister.com/top-stories/3573/silver-bridge-victims-remembered. The faulty eyebar eventually cracked and began to corrode, out of sight from the public or bridge inspectors. The Silver Bridge tragedy led to national changes in how bridges were inspected. He also recognized the Mason County Commission and City of Point Pleasant for their help, with special thanks to Doolittle and Kim Harbour who works in the commission office. Wedge lit the star atop the tree in the lawn of the Mason County Courthouse — a star specially designed with 46 points of light and then Handley lit the tree, all while Beth Rollins performed a Christmas song. Hi! Other bridges of similar design include the earlier road bridge over the Menai Strait built by Thomas Telford in 1826; the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest, built in 1839–1849, destroyed in the closing days of World War II by retreating Germans in 1945, and rebuilt identically by 1949, with redundant chains and hangers; and the Three Sisters, self-anchored suspension bridges of similar design and construction period (from 1924 to 1928) in Pittsburgh. Twenty-one people survived, but 46 died in the disaster. Four persons onthis part of the bridge werekilled, and eight injured werepulled out of the tangled steel. Then, Dotson introduced Chayston Handley, a student at Leon Elementary who has been battling cancer and is in the third month of a six-month cycle of chemotherapy. Growth of the crack was probably exacerbated by residual stress in the eyebar created during manufacture. 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