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Kevin Beyer provided the following additional information: It was originally built for the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad in the early 1930s. Then in the early 1960s it became part of the N & W system and was the highest bridge on the whole system. In 1990 the railroad was sold to the Wheeling & Lake Erie who owns it now. This bridge is unique in the fact there is a 0 to 0 curve entirely on the bridge.
This bridge would normally be instantly viewed as long and tall, except for the enormous PA-43 Bridge that today passes directly over this railroad bridge as PA-43 crosses the Mingo Creek valley. This is a high level railroad bridge. Traditionally composed, it addresses the need for a railroad to cross a valley in the manner of tall steel bents (towers) that support plate girder spans. The bents have a trussed design that gives the bridge an attractive geometry. This geometry is what is so lacking in the PA-43 Bridge that obstructs the view of this historic bridge. According to an article in Modern Steel Construction, The PA-43 Bridge supposedly was recognized as supposedly having been designed to be "in harmony" with the surrounding landscape because of its "repetition of coherent, structurally efficient forms to blend in with the surrounding forest." The massive, solid concrete piers of this bridge actually block the view of both historic bridge and forest, yet still manage to look top-heavy and unstable. The harsh lines of the concrete do not blend in with a forest. In contrast, the open trussed design of the historic bridge with their complex geometry compliments the complex geometry of a tree and its branches, and the open design does not obstruct the view of the forest. Without even trying, the railroad bridge manages to have more substantial aesthetic value than the highway bridge.
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