The Detroit–Superior Bridge or Detroit–Superior High Level Bridge (officially known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge) is a through arch bridge over the Cuyahoga River in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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 ...

. The bridge links Detroit Avenue on Cleveland's west side and Superior Avenue on Cleveland's east side, terminating west of

Public Square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

. Construction by the King Bridge Company began in 1914 and completed in 1918, at a cost of $5.4 million. It was the first fixed high level bridge in Cleveland, and the third high-level bridge above the Cuyahoga (the first was the Old Superior Viaduct and the second the Central Viaduct, also built by the King Company). At the time of its completion, the bridge was the largest steel and concrete reinforced bridge in the world.

Specifications

The High Level Bridge starts on the east at the center line of West 9th Street and Superior, and extends across the Cuyahoga Valley to the junction of West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue. It is long. The total cost, including the land and a right of way, was $5,407,000, split as $1,687,200 was for land and $3,719,800 for the superstructure.Bridges of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, 1918; THE NEW DETROIT-SUPERIOR HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE; Stanley L. McMichael; pg 7-10 The bridge has of clearance above the river, and rises to above the river at the peak of the central span. The original construction included a main deck wide, with two

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

s and a roadway. While the bridge's upper level is for road traffic, the lower level was intended for

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

s. It was built with four sets of these tracks, leaving room for two more, if needed. The structure includes 12 concrete arches and one steel span. The steel span is long and crosses the Cuyahoga River. The steel span cost $646,747. About of concrete and of reinforcing steel were used in the construction of the arches. The concrete piles used in the foundation work, if placed end to end, would extend a distance of . Each end of the structure has underground streetcar stations for the trams that operated on the lower deck.

Subway

The Detroit–Superior subway was an underground transit system that operated between 1917 until its closure January 24, 1954. The line served riders between Cleveland's west side and

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. The system had two stations: West 25th (four platforms) and West 9th (two platforms), which included restrooms. The line ran on the lower level of the Detroit–Superior Bridge.

Gallery

File:Detroit-Superior Bridge in Cleveland.jpg, Detroit–Superior Bridge in Cleveland File:Video still from under the Detroit Superior Bridge, Cleveland, Ohio.jpeg, Video still from under the Detroit Superior Bridge File:Cleveland Veterans Memorial Bridge Subway (9230968317).jpg, Cleveland Veterans Memorial Bridge Subway File:Subway station, Detroit Superior Bridge. Copy of a photograph dated August 15, 1939, courtesy the Cleveland Press, Cleveland, Ohio. Subway platform pictured was entered by a HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,22-12.tif, West 25th station in 1939 File:Cleveland Veterans Memorial Bridge Viaduct (9233783234).jpg, West 25th station in 2013 File:West 9th station.png, West 9th station (approximate spot) in 2017 File:Detroit-Superior art installation (2).ogg, Art installation in 2019

Modifications

Due to the closure of the streetcar operations, the subway level became unused. In November 1955, ramps to the lower level were closed. The Detroit–Superior Bridge remained a bottleneck during rush hour. A two-year renovation completed in May 1969 added two traffic lanes by narrowing existing sidewalks from 15 to 5 feet and cantilevering the new lanes outside the central arch. On November 11, 1989 ( Veterans Day), the bridge was renamed the Veterans Memorial Bridge. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on January 18, 1974. In 2003, Cuyahoga County Commissioners approved the conversion of the two outside traffic lanes for pedestrian and bicycle use. The lower level and subway station are opened to the public for tours a few times per year, typically around Memorial Day,

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

, and for the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival. Self-guided tours are free of charge.Veterans Memorial Bridge and Subway Tours
, Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office. Accessed 2007-07-24.

References

External links