1.

0 Tittle
Bridge collapse

2.0 Abstract

The Silver Bridge provided crossing for US Route 35 over the Ohio River.  It connected
to Columbus, Ohio to Charleston, West Virginia.  The bridge crossed between Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. The Silver Bridge not only allowed direct
access between the State capitals of Ohio and West Virginia but also provide clearance
for the cargo ships that passed through the Ohio River. On December 15, 1967, the bridge
collapsed while handling heavy traffic and killed 46 people. This accident changed the
nation’s view of bridges across the country.  The government ultimately changed the way
bridges were inspected to ensure safety and functionality.

The bridge was completed in 1928. The General Contracting Company of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania constructed the piers. The American Bridge Company of Pittsburgh built
the bridge. It was a unique design due to the use of high-tension eye-bar chains, a unique
anchorage system, and the use of rocker towers. The eye-bars were two force bar
members with rounded eyes at each end. Because bedrock was at a great depth, piles were
octagonal shapes of reinforced concrete.

The key lesson from the Bridge failure is the dangerous interaction between stress
concentrations and fatigue. The small built in eye bar flaw, subjected to many load cycles
over the four decades, led to a sudden and rapid crack propagation through the eye bar.
Another lesson is the value of structural redundancy. The eye bar connection was not
redundant. Since it was composed only of two pairs of eye bars, the failure of one eye bar
allowed the entire connection to rotate and separate.

Lastly, the structure as a whole was also not redundant. The loss of any structural element
would lead to a complete loss of the bridge. As failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the
towers were bent but stayed up, and the side spans of the bridge remained after the centre
span fell in the water. In contrast, because the Point Pleasant Bridge towers were
supported on rockers at the bottom, they toppled over and all three spans were lost.