The tragic collapse of the bridge in Minnesota is only the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the aging US infrastructure. The West Orange Road Bridge in Delaware County, Ohio, is an example of a calamity about to happen. It is listed among the nations top at risk historic bridges. It is also rated as structurally deficient in Ohio and labeled in critical shape after a yearly inspection. It is also dangerous because it is a one-lane bridge in an area of high traffic (connecting heavily traveled Rts. 23 and 315) and rapid development.
The historic and beautiful bridge, on the National Register of Historic Places, over the Olentangy River, was built in 1898 by the Toledo Bridge Company. Its west end abutments are the original sandstone. It retains a remarkable amount of historic integrity, which includes the original floor beams, lattice railings, and the builder and commissioner plaques. It is a nine-panel structure with a deck consisting of timber with a bituminous surface. The bridge is 182 feet long and 16 feet wide. It is uncommon to find such a traditional late 19th century pin-connected Pratt truss at this length.
It is located on the Olentangy Scenic River on Orange Road in the Olentangy Heritage Corridor (Ohio Scenic Byway) in southern
Delaware County in an area where the rural world intersects the urban Columbus, Ohio, area in a very upscale region. The Olentangy River here teems with wildlife--screeching red-tail hawks, crow, deer, and riparian vegetation including huge old trees (which are shown and rapidly disappearing). On the hills overlooking the valley is some of the most upscale housing in the region. Some of these estates have private landing strips, lakes, and further south along the river, private boat docks.
This is not the only dangerous bridge in Ohio. One well-known collapse was the towering suspension Point Pleasant (Silver) Bridge between Ohio and West Virginia, which in the Christmas holiday season of 1967, dropped into the Ohio River. Thirty-seven vehicles were crossing the bridge and forty-six people died. This is still considered the nations worst highway-bridge disaster. It was built in 1928 as a two-lane eye-bar suspension type bridge, 2,235 ft in length. It was called the Silver Bridge because it was the nations first aluminum painted bridge.
In addition, the silver bridge may have more American legends attached to it than any other bridge. After the collapse, many questioned why the bridge would suddenly drop into the river. Three reasons commonly heard were: 1 A Sonic Boom just before the collapse, 2 The Curse of Chief Cornstalk, and 3 structural failure. Many people reported a Sonic Boom at about the time, or just before, the bridge fell. Older residents associated it with the The Curse of Cornstalk. The 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant took place here. The Native American commander was Chief Cornstalk. Chief Cornstalk signed the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, near to where John Purdue once lived. Legend says that in his dying words, Chief Cornstalk placed a curse of death and destruction upon the Point Pleasant area. Another noted Native American, Tecumseh, lost his father during this battle, when Tecumseh was very young. Tecumseh later put forth several prophesies about the nation that have come true.
Another legend associated with the Point Pleasant collapse is the Moth Man Prophacy. Many odd occurrences were said to have foretold this disaster. A TV special tells about two Men In Black, who were seen near the bridge the day before its collapse. John Keel arrived at Point Pleasant in December 1966 and began collecting reports of a strange bird or flying bat-like person, having red eyes, that they called Moth man. Moth man was perhaps the strangest creature to ever grace the chronicles of weirdness in America. It sometimes followed people down the highway to Point Pleasant. Keel described these events in the Moth Man Prophecies. The prophecies became true when the bridge collapsed. In the later movie about the events, Richard Gere, played John Keel. Many people, and even animals such as horses, have a fear of crossing bridges: this fear is called gephyrohobia.
In 1865, John Purdue bought a farm for his sister along Orange Road. The monument commemorating the Battle of Point Pleasant and its associated treaty is located just north of Adelphi, Ohio, where Purdue once lived. Additional information about the bridge can be found at: http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Ewoxi8XLUd4J:www.ohiohistory.org/resource/histpres/docs/organgeroadbridge.pdf+%22orange+road%22+bridge+%22Delaware+County,+Ohio%22+olentangy+limestone&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
