Elkhurst
Bridge
Built around 1930, the
Elkhurst
Bridge
is a cable suspension bridge with steel uprights and a wooden deck.
It spans the Elk River and connects county roads 5 & 18 to county
road 22 in the
Village
of
Elkhurst
in Clay County, West Virginia.
The bridge construction consists of a three span steel cable.
The main anchorage cables are made up of 6 cables with 19 strands each
twined together into one rope. The
cables are supported by reinforced concrete anchorages and steel towers
supported by reinforced concrete piers. The
substructure units are founded on spread concrete footings.
It is 424 feet and 7 inches in length,8 feet and 4 inches wide (7 feet
and 3 inches traffic width) and the deck is constructed with 3 inch by 10 inch
timber planks, 8 feet and 4 inches wide. It
also has 6 inch by 6 inch timber wheel guards and a 2 line, ½ inch in diameter
cable railing along each side. The
cable connections consist of saddle clamps and the connections in the steel
towers utilize both rivets and bolts. The
stringers are spliced together over each floor beam with steel plates and high
strength bolts, and tack welded to the top flange of the floor beams.
History
Extensive repairs were made to
the structure in 1941. The timber
floor was replaced, the original timber towers were replaced with the current
steel towers and there was improvement to the cable anchorages at the abutments.
In 1984, extensive repairs were
made including installing new steel stringers to replace the wooden ones and new
wood floor beams and new timber deck and wheel guards. Some hanger clamps
were repaired and lubricant was applied to the main suspension cables as well as
repairing one of the towers and the saddle blocks if each tower.
Supplemental cables were added
at the anchorages and the saddle blocks of each tower in 1985.
In September of 1993 some
vertical suspender members were replaced and in 1998 some repairs were made to
the towers and some additional vertical suspender members were replaced.
The
Elkhurst
Bridge
was closed to vehicular traffic on March 5, 2003.