But then, she noticed a vibration beneath her and reversed her car. on December 15, 1967, a pregnant woman named Charlene Wood was driving home from work when she went over the Silver Bridge. Point Pleasant River Museum Of the 46 people who died, two were never found.Īt about 5 p.m. To make matters worse, the bridge had been constructed with very little redundancy, meaning that if one part failed, there was practically nothing in place to keep the rest of the structure from failing too. So, no one knew that an eyebar had become defective until it was too late. Though these eyebars were vital for the structural integrity of the bridge, there was no way to properly inspect them without taking them apart. But no one would be able to detect a crucial problem with one of the bridge’s eyebars. Two further inspections followed in the summer of 1967. And after one inspection in 1965, the structure underwent about $30,000 in repairs. Still, the Silver Bridge was inspected somewhat regularly. Meanwhile, the bridge itself still looked largely the same as it did when it was first constructed in the 1920s. Up to 4,000 of these heftier vehicles made their way across the bridge per day, causing stress on the eyebars. By the 1960s, most cars weighed about 3,000 pounds. When the Silver Bridge was first built in the 1920s, the average car weighed about 1,500 pounds. Plus, this design would make the bridge one of the first structures of its kind in the United States.īut decades later, its design failed to meet modern standards. However, an alternate bid for an eyebar design ended up being cheaper. The bridge was originally meant to be suspended with traditional wire cables. It was a two-lane, 1,760-foot-long eyebar suspension bridge, and it took a year to finish.įrom the very beginning, the builders cut corners. Greiner Company and built by the precursor to the West Virginia-Ohio Bridge Company as well as the American Bridge Company. If you got stuck in the middle of that bridge, it would wave back and forth, back and forth.”įirst opened in 1928, the Silver Bridge had been designed by J.E. One survivor, Ben Cedar, recalled, “I was worried about that bridge every time I crossed over. Long before the Silver Bridge collapse of 1967, locals had been complaining about the swaying structure for years. Point Pleasant River Museum A crushed taxicab recovered after the Silver Bridge collapse. But what actually made the Silver Bridge collapse? Could it have possibly been prevented? And why did some people blame the mythical Mothman for causing the disaster? The Construction Of A Doomed Bridge While most people didn’t take the Mothman sightings seriously at first, the local tragedy caused some to reconsider. They described the legendary Mothman as a 7-foot-tall beast with a wingspan of 10 feet and the ability to fly as fast as 100 miles per hour. And 9 other people were left injured.Įerily, in the months leading up to the Silver Bridge collapse, multiple locals had reported seeing a mysterious creature in and around Point Pleasant. Tragically, two of the bodies were never found. In the end, 46 victims lost their lives on that fateful day. Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the water, taking 64 people with them. Then, without warning, the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River. Dozens of cars sat bumper-to-bumper on the structure. Saturday, ODOT said.On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed over the Ohio River, shocking the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia - and some believe that the mythical Mothman was responsible.Ībout a week before Christmas 1967, rush hour traffic crawled across the Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. All northbound lanes reopened as of 4 p.m. Friday, which is estimated to be as high as $400,000. ODOT arrived at the location to repair the damage as of 3 a.m. The semi was hauling the base of an intermodal container crane. Ruth is being held at the Wood County Jail. 13abc found numerous charges in Ruth’s criminal history which included robbery, larceny, theft, burglary, probation violation and drug convictions.Īn OSHP spokesperson said the driver did not have a permit for the load he was carrying and was cited for not having a license, being “over dimensional,” and leaving the scene of an accident. OSHP said person who was hit by debris followed the semi driver and alerted officials of his location east of I-75 in the area of the Ampoint complex. The driver of the semi, Lavoris Ruth, 43, of Miami Gardens, Florida, was arrested and charged with Commercial Driver Prohibitions and Leaving the Scene of an Accident. Several other vehicles were hit by debris and one person was hurt when he fell outside his vehicle. According to OSHP, the debris hit a vehicle and caused minor injuries to a driver.
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