The Collapse of the Silver Bridge

The Silver Bridge was a bridge spanning from Point Pleasant West Virginia into Ohio. It opened to the public on memorial day in 1928. The design of the Bridge was an eye-bar suspension bridge with two rocker towers that could sway to help stabilize depending on the weight on the bridge at the time. The choice to use eyebars for the bridge was controversial from the start. Wire cables had originally been chosen to be used for the bridge, but when it was determined that eyebars would be cheaper they were chosen instead. It was determined that with the cars of the time the bridge should face no issues using the eyebars, but because of the use of the eyebars it was also known that after the bridge was erected it would be impossible to make adjustments to the chains, hangers, or trusses.

When it opened the bridge was the first of its kind in the US and Named the Silver Bridge by locals due to the silver color of the bridge. For years the bridge was privately owned until 1941 when the State of West Virginia purchased it for a little over a million dollars. The state completed inspections of the bridge in 1959, 1963, 1964, 1965 where 30,000 dollars worth of repairs were made, and two inspections in 1967.

The Tragedy occurred later that year on December 15th 1967. The bridge now saw more traffic than it had ever planned for and around 5pm on that fateful day people reported a noise that sounded like a loud gunshot and then seconds later watched as the bridge folded into the water Taking 32 cars into the icy water with it. Despite rescue and recovery efforts from both emergency services and members of the local community 46 people died, two of which have never been recovered from the river.

The collapse was a national tragedy and early in the next year President Johnson ordered bridges across the country to be inspected, finding over 1,000 bridges in need of serious repairs. The Silver bridge’s twin just 75 miles away would be shut down, and in Point Pleasant a new bridge would be ordered called the Silver Memorial Bridge.

But what caused this collapse? Well at the time there were many theories

One such theory was that a sonic boom had rippled through the area and caused the bridge to collapse, but this was quickly proven false. One theory is that Mothman who had been seen in the area during the time was either responsible for the collapse or an omen warning of the disaster. Some even reported to have seen mothman near the bridge just days before it collapsed.

In reality the reason for the collapse goes all the way back to the construction of the bridge. The eyebar system of the bridge made the bridge unable to be fully inspected and it had been built for the cars of 1928 not the much bigger cars of the 60s. The added weight and increased traffic stressed one of the eyebars to the point that it started to crack and eventually would lead to the total failure of the bridge.

Today the silver bridge collapse is still remembered and honored by the locals.