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Additional Information: John A. Roebling Sons Company did not just fabricate the cables, they erected the bridge as well, something they did not always do.
This bridge is one of the few surviving historic suspension bridges on the Ohio River. The graceful structure is a beautiful iconic landmark for the area. The bridge is also significant as an bridge designed by famous engineering firm Modjeski and Masters. The steel towers with bracing consisting of a very large pattern of "X's" is a feature found among a number of suspension bridges that Modjeski and Masters were involved with.
The bridge retains excellent historic integrity with no major alterations noted.
Dravo Construction company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was the substructure contractor for this bridge while John A. Roebling Sons Company of Trenton, New Jersey is reported as the superstructure contractor. J. F. Hardymon Company was the paving contractor, electrical contractor, and also constructed the toll house. Most of the steel for the bridge was shipped to the site from Pittsburgh via the river.
The bridge is well-maintained. A newer bridge a few miles to the north today handles a lot of the traffic including trucks that would have originally used this bridge. This concept of constructing a new bridge a few miles outside of town seems like a smart solution but is sadly rarely done. The new bridge allows noisy through truck traffic to avoid the downtown areas of Maysville and Aberdeen. It provides safety redundancy (in case one bridge has to be closed for some reason) and additional capacity for bridges over the Ohio River which due to its size doesn't have many bridges. The new bridge also reduces the traffic on the historic bridge, allowing it to be sufficient for the traffic it carries, and increasing its service life. Despite all these benefits of adding a bridge, this is a rare setting. Instead, more often historic bridges over the Ohio River are replaced by a new bridge and then the historic bridge is blown up and sent to China to be turned into soup cans. Its a wasteful and unwise decision that has devastated the population of historic bridges on the Ohio River. Ironically, this has increased the rarity and historical significance of this bridge.
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