Main Avenue Bridge

Main Avenue Bridge
Bridge in 2005
Coordinates	41°29′55″N 81°42′18″W / 41.4986620°N 81.7051315°W / 41.4986620; -81.7051315 (Main Avenue Bridge)
Carries	OH 2
Crosses	Cuyahoga River
Locale	Cleveland, Ohio
ID number	1800035
Characteristics
Design	Metal-Riveted Cantilever Deck Truss, Stationary[1]
Total length	6,580 feet (2,010 m) 8,000 feet (2,400 m) including ramps [1]
Width	82 feet (25 m)
Longest span	120 m
Clearance above	100 feet (30 m) (over river)
Clearance below	96 feet (29 m)
History
Construction end	1939
Opened	1939
Location

The Main Avenue (Harold H. Burton Memorial) Bridge (alternately Main Avenue Viaduct^[2]) is a cantilever truss bridge in Cleveland, Ohio carrying Ohio State Route 2/Cleveland Memorial Shoreway over the Cuyahoga River.^[3] The bridge, completed in 1939, is 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in length, and was the longest elevated structure in Ohio^[4] until the 2007 completion of the Veterans' Glass City Skyway in Toledo. It was named for Harold H. Burton, 45th mayor of Cleveland, in late January 1986.^[5] The bridge replaced an 1869 bridge at the same site,^[4] and was built in conjunction with construction of the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway.^[6]

The bridge received extensive renovations 1991–1992;^[4][7] it subsequently received major structural repairs in 2007^[8] and again in 2012–2013, both instances necessitating re-routing of large vehicles.^[9][10][11]

In 2013, the Federal Highway Administration listed the Main Avenue Bridge as "structurally deficient" and "fracture critical".^[12][13]

The bridge has been designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.^[14]

• List of crossings of the Cuyahoga River

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Main Avenue Bridge.

• Watson, Sara Ruth; John R. Wolfs (1981). "Chapter 2: The Four Great Viaducts". Bridges of Metropolitan Cleveland. pp. 28–31. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved June 30, 2009. Transcription at The Cleveland Memory Project website.