Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Bridge No. 463

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) Bridge No. 463 is a jackknife through truss bascule bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.

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History

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) Bridge No. 463 is a jackknife through truss bascule bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.

Initially, the site featured a bridge built in 1911 by the Cleveland & Valley Railroad (C&V), established in 1871 to extend rail service from Akron to Lake Erie’s north end, along the Ohio & Erie Canal. ³ However, the C&V declared bankruptcy in 1880 and was reorganized as the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railroad (CT&V) in 1894. The B&O acquired the CT&V in 1909.

In 1911, the B&O replaced the existing river span with a Scherzer Electric Rolling Lift span, providing a navigational clearance of 161 feet. ^{4 5} This span was initially known as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Bridge No. 403. ¹

A $11 million project commenced in 1937 to remove hazardous curves and widen the navigational channel of the Cuyahoga River. ⁵ This project aimed to expand the river’s navigational width and soften sharp curves, following recommendations from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the River and Harbor Committee of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. They advised replacing Bridge No. 403 with a new bridge offering 231.5 feet of navigational clearance.

Initially, in 1946, the Board of the Corps rejected this recommendation, citing the Cuyahoga River’s “narrow and tortuous channel,” which in many places had channel clearances of less than 120 feet. ⁵ However, this decision was later overturned, and in 1956, the B&O replaced Bridge No. 403 with Bridge No. 463, a jack-knife bascule bridge. ^{2 4} This new bridge had a 255-foot Warren through truss main span, a 55-foot tower span, and a 63-foot deck plate girder span, totaling a length of 375 feet. ^{4 5} The substructure, constructed by Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation, consisted of two concrete piers with 30-inch steel caissons and 10-inch steel pipe piles. ⁵ K. J. Wagoner, B&O’s chief engineer, designed and planned the bridge, with consulting engineering services provided by Hardesty & Hardesty.

In 1996, as part of Cleveland’s bicentennial project, the now-abandoned bridge, left in its raised position, was illuminated. ²

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Sources

1. Cramer, Bill, et al. “The B&O In Cleveland.” The Sentinel, vol. 36, no. 2, Summer 2014.
2. Bona, Marc. “Bridges of the Crooked River.” Plain-Dealer [Cleveland], 24 Nov. 2015.
3. Watson, Sara Ruth, and John R. Wolfs. “The Railroad Era in Cleveland Bridge History.” Bridges of Metropolitan Cleveland, MSL Academic Endeavors, 1981, pp. 55-59.
4. Watson, Sara Ruth, and John R. Wolfs. “Movable Bridges.” Bridges of Metropolitan Cleveland, MSL Academic Endeavors, 1981, pp. 44-45.
5. Bluestone, Daniel M., ed. “Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Bridge #463.” Cleveland: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, Historic American Engineering Record, 1978, pp. 96.