Hope Memorial Bridge.

The Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio, is a 1,370-meter art deco truss bridge that spans the Cuyahoga River. The bridge connects Lorain Avenue on the west side of Cleveland with Carnegie Avenue on the east side, ending just short of Progressive Field.The Guardians of Traffic, a pair of statues conceived by sculptor Henry Hering and architect Frank Walker, are sculpted onto opposite-facing ends of two pairs of pylons, one at each end of the viaduct. They represent advancements in the field of transportation. A hay wagon, a covered wagon, a stagecoach, and a 1930s-era automobile, as well as four types of motorized construction equipment, are held in the hands of each Guardian.The bridge was completed in 1932 at a cost of $ 4.75 million. It is located 28 meters above the waterline to allow transportation to pass without hindrance. A second lower deck designed to transport trucks and commercial traffic was never put into operation. The bridge was originally planned to pass through the location of Erie Street Cemetery on East 9th Street. The angular parallel lines that run behind and below the Guardians mark the statues as Art Deco, the sleek modern style of the late 1920s and 1930s. The Guardians of Traffic are Cleveland’s only large Art Deco monuments.The wings on the helmets suggest that they are fashioned after Hermes, the Greek deity of commerce and land travel and messenger of the gods. The Romans called him Mercury, and…