The Silver Bridge Disaster

On December 15, 1967, about one mile downstream, forty-six interstate travelers lost their lives when the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River during five o'clock rush hour traffic. The 2,235 foot two-way vehicular bridge connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanagua, Ohio, via U.S. Route 35. Built in 1928 by the West Virginia Ohio River Bridge Company for $1.2 million, the structure was unique in its engineering conception, the first of its design in America and the second in the world. Instead of woven-wire cable, it was suspended on heat-treated eye-bar chains. It was called the Silver Bridge because it was the first in the world to be painted with aluminum paint. In 1969, two years later, its replacement, the Silver Memorial Bridge, was dedicated.

Ohio · United States