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Built:
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Type: Bridge
Location: Spanning the Ohio River between Steubenville, Ohio and Weirton, West Virginia
City: Weirton
State: West Virginia
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W
hile winding through some of the more bucolic areas of Appalachia, it is possible to actually be startled by the presence of this bridge. Carrying U.S. 22 over the Ohio River, Veterans Memorial Bridge is a welcome sign of modern times in a world that has been otherwise left behind. Linking the cities of Steubenville, Ohio and Weirton, West Virginia, the bridge uses a single tower and a splay of steel cable to support the six-lane bridge deck. While it is reminiscent of the stunning Erasmusbrug in The Netherlands, Veterans Memorial Bridge actually has a sibling much closer to home. There is a nearly identical span known by the typically bland name "31st Street Bridge" just a couple of hundred miles down the river. It joins Proctorville, Ohio with Huntington, West Virginia. The region where these bridges live thrived for decades on coal, steel, and timber. Now those industries are fading, leaving abandoned mills, smokestacks, and rail yards behind. Veterans Memorial Bridge is a reminder that no place is beyond hope, and that there may just be a future for this corner of the Ohio Valley.
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