James River Bridge Crossing

[@davidlyons9992]

The southbound lanes were built and completed first, which is why those lanes have the "handrail" at the top of the sides, and the northbound lanes have the "Jersey Wall" sides. The steel lift span was the very last part of the bridge to be constructed. The lift span itself is 350ft long. The old/original bridge actually lifted 10 feet higher when fully open than the current span. During construction, once the southbound lanes were sufficiently completed, temporary trestle was built to connect the two bridges, and traffic would get on the new bridge, then transfer over to the old bridge at the lift span before being transferred back to the new bridge for the rest of the 4.5 mile trip--with one lane in each direction. Once traffic was using the new bridge, all trestle for the old bridge was demolished south of the lift span first. The old bridge remained standing for some time from the Newport News side to the old lift span (which remained permanently fully open). After a few years, the old bridge lift span was demolished, leaving just the 1/2 mile stretch from the Newport News shore which became the James River Fishing Pier.

[@davidlyons9992]

Few photos are known to exist of the original bridge that were taken by drivers while on the bridge itself, but some have been found. The current bridge has lanes that are 12 feet wide (the new standard) but the original bridge was built in 1928, and each lane was only 10 feet wide!! Also, the current bridge has several feet beyond the travel lane as a gap before the jersey wall, which helps cars get around disabled cars--however the original bridge had no such extra space! When you drove on the original bridge, it felt extremely narrow as there was just a mere 2-3 feet from the side of your car and the steel fence-like handrail which was the only thing between you and the water below.

[@davidlyons9992]

From its opening in 1928, there was a toll to cross the bridge with a booth on the Newport News side and the Isle of Wight County side, both of which have since been demolished. On the Isle of Wight County side, the area where the 9/11 Memorial now stands with the three flagpoles is where the southbound toll booth once stood. The last of the original bridge/fishing pier was demolished in the early 2000's because it was no longer considered safe, even though it was only used by pedestrians. The substructure of the bridge was iron/steel, with concrete pilings going into the water and a concrete deck that cars drove upon. The iron/steel had deteriorated heavily over 80+ years, and cars on the new bridge could look over the side and see large holes in the iron/steel of the old bridge. The city of Newport News paid about $2 million to demolish the pier and construct the new one in the exact same spot and keeping the same length, albeit somewhat narrower.

[@piktureit]

I go to that bridge a lot and I also live in Virginia

[@kanebowser-wieser3667]

Nice!