Main Avenue Bridge – Cleveland OH

Description

Two federal New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), contributed to the construction of the Main Avenue Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio.

“In the early 1930s under the auspices of the WPA, Cleveland adopted a regional traffic plan including the construction of a six mile lakefront highway connecting Gordon Park on the east side with West Boulevard at Edgewater Park on the west side. The six-mile route was intended to relieve city streets of cross-town and through traffic. The Main Avenue Bridge, funded by the WPA, was a ten-span, continuous cantilever truss, fixed high-level bridge 2,520 feet in length. The span length ranged from 200 to 400 feet. The longest, the river span, carried traffic over industries, railroads, streets, and river in the Cuyahoga Valley and Flats area. The four-span east approach ramp to the bridge, crossing the New York Central and the Penn Central Railroad tracks, is constructed with three parallel, continuous steel girders (one span, 270.8 feet long, was then the longest span girder built in America). The bridge’s total length, including approach spans and ramps is 8,000 feet. County engineers John O. McWilliams, W. E. Bleser, F. L. Plummer, R. W. Deitrick, and C. M. Haake, as well as consulting engineer Wilbur J. Watson worked on the design and planning for the bridge which was completed in 1939.”