The East Huntington Bridge (officially the Frank Gatski Memorial Bridge, also called the East End Bridge or the 31st Street Bridge) is a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

crossing the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

. It carries West Virginia Route 106 on the

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

approach and OH 775 on the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

approach. The northern approach (from

Ohio State Route 7 State Route 7 (SR 7), formerly known as Inter-county Highway 7 until 1921 and State Highway 7 in 1922, is a north–south state highway in the southern and eastern portions of the U.S. state of Ohio. At about in length, it is the longest ...

) is the recently extended Ohio State Route 775; its southern terminus is a pair of ramps (northbound on-ramp from Fifth Avenue, southbound offramp to Third Avenue) connecting it to

U.S. Route 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as General Booth Bouleva ...

History

The history of the span dates to the early 1970s when possible routings for a future

span were being discussed. To conform to the

Huntington Huntington may refer to: Places Canada * Huntington, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Huntington, New Zealand a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Huntington, Cheshire, England * Huntington, East Lothian, Scotland * Huntingto ...

city comprehensive plan, the alignment preferred by the city was one that connected to

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

outside of the city boundaries. Many favored a plan about one mile north of the city along WV 2. Work began on the bridge in 1983 and was completed in August 1985 at a cost of $38 million. The designer of the bridge was Arvid Grant and Associated of

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

and was the first bridge of its type in

. It was only the second of its kind in the United States since it utilized concrete instead of steel for its construction. It was built as a

FHWA The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

demonstration project. The

span and approach ramps on both sides of the river completed was what was known as Phase I. Future plans involved tolling the bridge and connecting it to

four blocks east. The bridge was renamed for Marshall University's first member of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

, Frank "Gunner" Gatski, during halftime of the Marshall-UTEP Football game on November 18, 2006."Frank ‘Gunner’ Gatski Memorial Bridge to be dedicated at UTEP-Marshall game." 17 Nov. 2006. Herald-Dispatch untington 04 Dec. 200

References

External links

East Huntington Bridge
at Bridges & Tunnels
Video of bridge
{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = East Huntington Bridge , bridge signs = WV-106

, upstream = Silver Memorial Bridge , upstream signs = US 35

, downstream =

Robert C. Byrd Bridge The Robert C. Byrd Bridge is a continuous truss bridge that crosses the Ohio River between Huntington, West Virginia and Chesapeake, Ohio. History Original bridge The previous bridge, opened in 1926, was Huntington's first bridge across ...

, downstream signs = WV-527

Road bridges in West Virginia Cable-stayed bridges in the United States Buildings and structures in Huntington, West Virginia Bridges over the Ohio River Bridges completed in 1985 Transportation in Cabell County, West Virginia Transportation in Lawrence County, Ohio Buildings and structures in Lawrence County, Ohio Road bridges in Ohio Concrete bridges in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States

History

See also

References

External links