C&O Railroad Bridge

C&O Railroad Bridge
The C&O Railroad Bridge (center) shares piers with the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge (foreground). The Brent Spence Bridge carrying the I-71/I-75 freeway is also visible (background) in this shot looking southeast from downtown Cincinnati.
Carries	2 tracks of CSX Transportation
Crosses	Ohio River
Locale	Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio
Design	Cantilever bridge
Longest span	206 metres (676 ft)
Opened	1889 original, 1929 rebuilt

The C&O Railroad bridge is a cantilever truss railroad bridge over the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. The bridge was originally built between 1886 and 1889 by a predecessor of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. At the time, its $5,000,000 price tag made it the most expensive bridge, per foot, ever built. By 1929 it was obsolete, and a replacement was built on extended piers immediately adjacent to the original structure. This new bridge was given the same name as the original and is still in use, carrying the CSX Railroad (the C&O's successor) across the river. The original bridge was sold to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and retrofitted as an automobile bridge. In 1974 that converted original bridge was demolished, the northern pier was extended, and the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge was built on that and the remaining preexisting piers.

Sources

"C&O Bridge, Clay Wade Bailey Bridge". Cincinnati-transit.net. http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/co-bridge.html. Retrieved 2006-03-27. 

Links

• Railroads of Cincinnati