Although the fire that shut down part of Daniel Carter Beard has caused enormous headaches for drivers, racked up at least a $10 million repair bill and brought misdemeanor charges against alleged arsonists, no one has been killed.
The same cannot be said about some of the most remembered bridge disasters in Ohio and elsewhere in the US. Bridges collapse due to weather conditions, design errors and ship accidents, among other things.
The Baltimore bridge collapses
The most notable bridge accident of 2024 occurred in Baltimore in March. At that moment, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship struck one of its supports. Six people were killed in the collapse.
Deadliest bridge accident in Ohio
Ohio recorded one of the deadliest bridge accidents in 1967 on the Ohio-West Virginia border. The Silver Bridge – which connected Gallipolis, Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia – collapsed into the Ohio River during busy rush hour, killing 46 people.
Officially called the Point Pleasant Bridge, the structure failed due to a defective eyebar – which is the end loop on a metal rod – in a suspension chain. The bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge in 1969.
The Silver Bridge accident sparked increased interest in bridge safety and inspections, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s manual on bridge inspections.
The following year, the Federal Highway Act included a section requiring the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to establish national standards for bridge inspection and a training program for bridge inspectors.
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Bridge collapses can be deadly
