John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When it was completed in 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet.
By the mid-1800s, Cincinnati had become the nation's leading inland port, and ferry traffic to and from Covington and Newport, Kentucky was at a level where the need for a bridge was apparent. The state of Ohio mandated, however, that if a span was to be built, the piers could not interfere with the city's river shipping, and the deck would have to be high enough for the stacks of steamboats to pass underneath. The 1849 charter for the bridge required:
- no piers in the river
- a length of 1,400 feet and,
- a deck clearance of 112 feet.
No such bridge had ever been built, but engineer John Roebling submitted a design and was awarded the job. By the time construction started in 1856, a new charter had eased the specifications for the bridge, shortening the required length to 1,000 feet and height to 100 feet.
Construction continued for over ten years, interrupted by financial shortages and the Civil War, during which the city and the unfinished bridge were under threat of attack. The bridge was completed in December, 1866. It was the first bridge to use both vertical suspenders and diagonal stays fanning from either tower. This feature was also implemented on the Brooklyn Bridge, which exceeded the Cincinnati bridge in length when it opened New York in 1883.
When the Roebling Bridge opened, the driver of a horse and buggy was charged a toll of 15 cents to cross; the toll for three horses and a carriage was 25 cents. Pedestrians were charged a penny.
Initially called "The Covington and Cincinnati Bridge," it was renamed for its designer in 1984.
Reference
- The Suspension Bridge. Cincinnati Transit.