Posted on 12/15/2015 7:25:43 PM PST by Morgana
POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. -- Tuesday marks the 48th anniversary of the Silver Bridge collapse that killed 46 people and changed a small West Virginia town forever.
It happened Dec., 15, 1967, during rush hour traffic in Point Pleasant.
The investigation of the collapse pointed to a single eyebar in a suspension chain due to a defect.
All but two victims were found in the debris.
The bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge two years later in 1969.
*Photo from WV Archives at the Culture Center
VIDEO ON LINK
(Excerpt) Read more at wchstv.com ...
Mothmen.
Yea things were kinda creepy up to that collapse.
My family used to drive across the Silver Bridge all the time when we went on vacation to W. Va back in the 60’s. My sister gets freaked out about driving across bridges to this day.
There were a few in WV that used to bother me before they tore them down. I’d take off my seat belt and drive like a bat out of hell across them. Reason I’d take my seat belt off is in case it did collapse I could exit the car in the water. They have replaced those bridges since.
Bridges on public roads now have to be inspected every 24 months nowadays. An awful lot of places (cities, counties, and states) did NO inspections before they were required. It was because of this bridge that the inspection routine was started.
Unfortunately, the overall condition of the average bridge has not increased very much since then. Do a search for your state on what percentage of the bridges have a sufficiency rating of less than 50%. A few new ones get built each year, but ALL the other ones continue to deteriorate. Fortunately, most of the fracture critical bridges (like this one and the Minneapolis bridge) have been replaced. Not all, but most.
Moth man is a bunch of nonsense, but John Keel’s book is what made most people hear about this disaster.
“There were a few in WV that used to bother me before they tore them down. I’d take off my seat belt and drive like a bat out of hell across them. Reason I’d take my seat belt off is in case it did collapse I could exit the car in the water. They have replaced those bridges since.”
I thought I was the only one who did that. I was eleven when the bridge collapsed, and I will never forget hearing about it on the news. To this day, I unbuckle my seat belt and roll my window down crossing most any bridge. I have thought about getting a flotation device to keep in the car, just in case. (Is that crazy?)
Mothman, my first thought as well.
It’s not crazy. I’ve even said if I see mothman beforehand, I’m NOT crossing that bridge!!
Makes perfect sense to me!
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