5th Avenue Bridge

Most Recent Visit To Bridge: March 2007

This impressive structure is a great example of 1920s truss bridge technology with remarkable historic integrity. It contains a pleasing variety of truss types arranged in a symmetric that is visually appealing. It consists of a Pratt through truss span at each end, with a larger Parker truss rising up at the center to form the main span. Extensive lattice and v-lacing on the riveted structure combine to add to the aesthetic elements of the bridge. Original lattice railings remain on the bridge.

WVDOT however has chosen to demolish this historic bridge, which due to lack of maintenance has fallen into disrepair. When WVDOT announced this, some members of the public apparently recognized the value of the structure and alerted WVDOT to this. Rather than rehabilitate the structure however, WVDOT hired Modjeski and Masters to design replacement structures that supposedly would fill the shoes of this historic bridge. The different designs they came up with, one even a metal truss bridge, look nothing like the original bridge to anyone with half a sense of what the old bridge looked like. Such solutions also disregard the idea that a structure is important because it is historic, and also that a historic structure means that the bridge is old. Any new bridge, even an exact replica, would not be historic, because it is not old. However, their truss bridge design is not even an exact replica, because it does not used rivets and uses plain-looking i-beams rather than intricate built-up beams with v-lacing, and is single span. Such mitigation alternatives, which often accompany historic bridge demolitions, should generally be considered a waste of money. Either the historic bridge should be preserved, or engineers should do what they do best these days, and design the plainest and simplest structure possible, and save the extra money for some other historic bridge rehabilitation project.