According to transporthint, the Ironton-Russell Bridge is a cable- stayed bridge in the United States, located on the border of the states of Kentucky and Ohio. The bridge spans the Ohio River between Ironton, Ohio and Russell, Kentucky.

Characteristics

The bridge is a concrete cable- stayed bridge with two A-shaped pylons. The entire bridge is approximately 800 meters long and is located in a bend from the Ohio side and crosses the Ohio River obliquely. The actual main bridge is 501 meters long and has a main span of 274 meters and two side spans of 113 meters. The bridge deck is 9.8 meters wide. The bridge is an extension of 2nd Street in Ironton, Ohio and opens to an intersection with US 23 in Kentucky, just east of Russell. The bridge also spans a railway line on both sides of the river. It is only one of two bridges over the Ohio River that are also operated by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

History

The original Ironton-Russell Bridge (1922-2016).

The original bridge at this location was a truss bridge with a length of 731 meters and a main span of 221 meters. The bridge was opened on August 21, 1922 and was one of the first bridges over the Ohio River in the region. At the time, it was the first road bridge over the Ohio River between Parkersburg and Cincinnati. The bridge was an extension of Main Street in Russell and Vernon Street in Ironton, although the connecting roads led to Willow Avenue in Russell and Adams Street in Ironton. The bridge was a toll road for some time. The bridge was reinforced in the 1970s.

Construction of the new bridge in 2015.

The 1922 bridge was in poor condition and had the status of ‘structurally deficient’. In addition to the poor condition of the bridge, the bridge was also outdated in design requirements, with a narrow 4 mile road and a sharp bend on the Ironton side. In 2000, a study was carried out to replace the bridge. In 2003 the design was chosen, a concrete cable-stayed bridge, which comes about 1 kilometer upstream from the old bridge. The project was originally scheduled to start around 2006, but the high demand for concrete after Hurricane Katrina resulted in an inflated cost of $110 million. The project has since been scaled down slightly from three to two lanes and cost $81 million. The new bridge is a cable-stayed bridge with two A-shaped pylons. The new bridge is 501 meters long with a main span of 274 meters and two side spans of 113 meters. The bridge deck is 9.8 meters wide, more than three meters wider than the old bridge. The pylons are 91.6 meters high. The bridge was constructed between March 2012 and November 2016. In June 2016, the last concrete was poured and the bridge deck closed on both sides. The bridge opened to traffic on November 23, 2016. On May 17, 2017, the old bridge from 1922 was blown up.

Traffic intensities

Approximately 3,700 vehicles use the bridge every day. The bridge is primarily used by local traffic between both banks of the Ohio River.

John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge

According to travelationary, the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is a truss structure suspension bridge in the United States, located on the border of the states of Kentucky and Ohio. The bridge spans the Ohio River in Cincinnati.

Characteristics

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is a total of 659 meters long, with a main span of 322 meters in length. The bridge has two sandstone pylons, with a half-timbered construction hanging from cables. The bridge deck is 7.6 meters wide, with one lane in each direction. The bridge connects downtown Cincinnati with downtown Covington in Kentucky. The bridge is toll-free.

History

Cause

In the mid-19th century, Cincinnati flourished as a port and trading city on the Ohio River. This created the need for a fixed bridge connection. One problem was that the Ohio River in Cincinnati is wide, wider than, say, the Wheeling Suspension Bridge in West Virginia, opened in 1849. In 1846 the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company was created to carry out the construction.

The first plans of engineer John A. Roebling envisaged a bridge of 370 meters in length with a vertical clearance of 30 meters. This one had one major drawback, a large pylon in the middle of the Ohio River. A bridge with a span of 430 meters was later planned, but the collapse of a suspension bridge in Newport over the Licking River meant that no investors could be found. In 1856 sufficient funds became available and the span plans were shortened to a more feasible 300 metres.

Aptitude

Construction began in September 1856 with the foundation of the pylon on the Covington side. On the Cincinnati side there were problems with the soil conditions and a hole was dug down to the hard soil under the Ohio River. Construction was halted for a long time in the winter and spring and was not resumed until July 1857. Later that year there was the “panic of 1857” and people ran out of money, so that construction was halted for a year. Work on the pylon resumed in July 1858, but work was halted again in 1859-1860 due to the death of the chairman of the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company.

In 1861 the American Civil War broke out. A pontoon bridge was hastily built near Cincinnati to defend the city from Confederate troops. It became clear what advantages a fixed bridge had, so that money became available again for construction. Work on the bridge resumed in the spring of 1864. The tethers were manufactured in Manchester, England. This is because the English cables were considered to be of better quality than the American ones. In 1865-1866 the cables over the river were installed between the pylons. Then the bridge deck was installed, which consisted of iron girders and wooden planks. On December 1, 1866, the bridge opened to pedestrians. When opened, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Adjustments

The bridge deck was of inferior quality due to the inflation of the American Civil War, but the pylons were built to support a much heavier bridge deck. In 1896 the bridge was significantly modified, the bridge deck was reinforced with steel and the bridge on the Cincinnati side was modified.

The bridge was originally a toll bridge. The bridge was originally privately owned until 1953, when the state of Kentucky took over the bridge. The toll was scrapped in 1963, when the Brent Spence Bridge off Interstate 75 opened. The bridge got its current name in 1983. Between 2006 and 2008 the bridge was renovated. The maximum permissible weight was also reduced to 11 tons. A renovation followed in 2021, during which the bridge was closed for almost the entire year.

Traffic intensities

9,400 vehicles cross the bridge every day. This makes it the busiest non-motorway bridge in the region.