Coordinates are taken at the middle of the bridge over the Ohio River.
Blasterz love this bridge with its mix of six elegant truss spans, but its history may be even cooler: bought on the courthouse steps for $10K by a rails-to-trails group, the bridge is the centerpiece of gorgeous public parks on both sides of the Ohio River.
The bridge consists of three arched Parker through-trusses and three arched Pennsylvania through trusses. The smaller Parker through-trusses are found at the approaches to the bridge.
From Bridgehunter.com: (
visit link)
"Description
Built by the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company starting in 1888 and finishing in 1895. Thirty seven workers died during construction including 21 who fell from a collapsed falsework and died in the river on December 15, 1893. The bridge was finished in September 1895 at the cost of $2.5 million, the accidents had driven the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company into bankruptcy and Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (Big Four) bought the bridge.
C & O Railroad owned 1/3 interest in the bridge and B & O Railroad, a road closely aligned with C & O owned the road approaching the bridge from the north. The bridge was used by interurban cars starting September 12, 1905.
Two interurban cars collided in January 1918 with the loss of three lives, this being the only serious accident on the bridge. Big Four bought out C & O's interest in the bridge in 1927.
It was rebuilt in 1929 by Louisville & Jefferson Bridge Company at a cost of $3.5 million. On Feb. 1, 1930 New York Central took over operation of the Big Four. Strangely B & O never used the bridge and took it's traffic over the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railway Bridge three miles further downstream.
When NY Central and Pennsylvania Railroads merged the Penn Central routed traffic away from the bridge. It was last used in 1969 and the approach spans were scrapped in 1974.
A railroad enthusiast, Charles Hammond bought the bridge in 1982, and wanted to develop the bridge with condos and retail stores. Tax trouble brought the plan to an end and the bridge was bought at a sheriffs action by a charity, "Bridge the Gap" in 1987 for $10,000. They decorated the bridge each year for a Christmas toy drive promotion.
Facts
Overview
Rail-Trail six-span through truss railroad bridge over the Ohio River at Louisville
Location
Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Clark County, Indiana
Status
Open to pedestrians only
History
Built 1929 using preexisting stone piers. Interurban traffic ends 1939; Approaches scrapped 1974.
Builders
- Louisville & Jefferson Bridge Co. (Financier)
- McClintic-Marshall Co. of Chicago, Illinois & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Railroads
- Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (CCC&StL; Big Four)
- Interurban
- Louisville & Northern Railway & Lighting Co. (L&NR&L)
- Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. (L&SI)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
Design
From north to south:
One riveted, 8-panel Parker through truss
Three riveted, 16-panel Pennsylvania through trusses, each 547 ft. long
Two riveted, 10-panel Parker through trusses
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 547.0 ft.
Total length: 2,525.0 ft. (0.5 mi.)
Also called
Big Four Bridge
Big Four Railroad Bridge
Big Four Bridge cross-river skywalk
Bridge to No Where
Inventory number
BH 18821 (Bridgehunter.com ID)"
More on this cool bridge, and many historical and modern photos can be found here: (
visit link)
"The Big Four Bridge
Built in 1895 and rebuilt 1929 on the same piers
A Louisville to Jeffersonville bridge was first conceived in Jeffersonville in 1885. The Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was formed in 1887 to construct a bridge. Construction began on October 10, 1888 and finally completed in 1895.
Due to various accidents and the cost of construction, the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was financially strapped and in 1895 sold the bridge to the Indianapolis-based Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad. Hence the bridge became known as The Big Four Bridge.
Due to the increasing weight of the rail traffic a bigger, stronger Big Four Bridge was built and opened in 1929. The new bridge was built on the piers of the old bridge.
The first interurban crossed the Big Four Bridge on September 12, 1905 . In January 1918, two interurban collided on the Big Four Bridge, killing three and injuring twenty.
Death on the Big Four
Thirty-seven men died during the construction of the Big Four. The first twelve died while working on a pier foundation when a caisson that was supposed to hold back the river water flooded, drowning the workers. Another four men died a few months after that when a wooden beam broke while working on a different pier caisson.
The Big Four Bridge had one of the biggest bridge disasters in the United States on December 15, 1893 when a construction crane was dislodged by a severe wind, causing the falsework support of a truss to be damaged and the truss—with forty-one workers on it—to fall into the Ohio River. Twenty of the workers survived, but twenty-one died. The accident almost cost more lives, as a ferry crossing the Ohio River just barely missed being hit by the truss. Hours later, a span next to the damaged span also fell into the river, but was abandoned at the time, causing no injuries.
The Big Four Bridge fell into disuse after the Big Four Railroad's parent company, the New York Central Railroad, was merged into the Penn Central in 1968. The Big Four Bridge's former traffic was then routed over the Fourteenth Street Bridge. Both approach spans were removed and sold for scrap.
It is now a converted pedestrian walkway between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana."