Southern Ohio is rife with historic bridges, both metal and wooden, and coupled with its rolling topography set amongst family farms and small towns, makes for picturesque drives and settings.

 

As a child, I remember being driven along US 52 along the Ohio River west of Portsmouth. The Higginsport Bridge is one of my memories of that drive, having been located on the A&P Highway, or US 52, in Higginsport that crosses White Oak Creek. The one-lane Whipple through truss was bypassed in 1943.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Hope Bridge carried US 68 across White Oak Creek in New Hope. Constructed in 1884 by the Lomas Forge and Bridge Works of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Whipple through truss was bypassed in 1960 with a new two-lane alignment. The deck on this span is in a state of serious deterioration, and the floor beams have to an extent rusted through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close to the abandoned New Hope Bridge is the New Hope Covered Bridge, which remains open to pedestrians and is in excellent condition. The New Hope Covered Bridge is a covered Howe truss with an arch that was built in 1878 by Josiah Bryant. It was bypassed in 1978 with a modern two-lane crossing.

 

 

 

Nearby was the Brown Covered Bridge, constructed in 1878, is located north-northeast of New Hope, Ohio along New Hope-White Oak Station Road, and is a Smith covered truss. The span was constructed by the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo. More photographs coming soon - I was not able to cross the span due to a police officer sitting in his cruiser on the other end.

 

 

The McCafferty Covered Bridge is located southwest of Fayetteville, Ohio on McCafferty Road, and was constructed in 1877 as a Howe covered truss over the East Fork Little Miami River. The span was last rehabilitated in 1963. The rural farm scene at the other end in Brown County is typical for southern Ohio - family farms, a decent amount of Amish, one-lane back roads and small towns make up for quite a diverse region.

 

 

Really dig that last photo.

The cops are on to you, Sherman!

The New Hope, Higginsport, and Brown covered bridges - all were bypassed or otherwise closed years or decades ago - they seem to be nonfunctional and safety hazards. (That New Hope bridge is sooo cool but looks really dangerous.)

 

So the questions I'd pose are these: why were they never taken down? Do any of them have any use?

Most trusses are dismantled after a few years. In Kentucky, they now must have a plan for relocating or dismantling a bridge after its use has ended. In Ohio, some were just too expensive, especially once the roadway reverted to county or township use. Interestingly enough, the two trusses above are both Whipple trusses, which are increasingly rare and are worthy of either National Register of Historic Places inclusion, dismantling and reassembly elsewhere (e.g. rail-to-trails see a lot of this) or preservation.

Are bridges of this age and condition implicitly closed to all traffic, ped or otherwise, or are they visibly posted no trespassing? They seem like just blatant examples of attractive nuisance.

The Brown Covered Bridge was the only one with a posted sign, which looked as cheap as a temporary sign you'd post on private property. If it was a township or county, you'd think they would have something more official. And judging from other photos from other sites, it's fairly new. I wonder if it's structural (e.g. listing, chord broken, etc.), but there would be other signs and barriers installed to prevent pedestrians from crossing.

 

As for others - I'm surprised the New Hope Bridge isn't gone. I remember visiting it years ago (about 8 years now) and remember holes through the deck that made me very nervous to cross then. When I was walking across it not too long ago, I came across a few squeaks of the boards and looked down to see nothing between me and the water but this rotting piece of wood and a rusted-through bottom. Even the temporary wooden slats someone installed to gap a hole were rotten and bent considerably.

The uncovered Star Wars: Episode IV Bridge does seem really dangerous now that you pointed that out. They should probably get the sheriff's deputies out to that one more often to keep people off of it.