The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge

While in Cincinnati, Ohio for a business meeting, I got up to catch a shot of this bridge at daylight. I used to live here and always loved the Roebling Suspension Bridge that spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky.

The bridge was designed for clearance at high water to allow steamboats to pass unobstructed,and it included a monumental tower in the middle of the river.

The digging of the foundation of the Covington tower commenced in September 1856 and went smoothly. A foundation was set consisting of 13 layers of oak beams, each layer set perpendicular to the one beneath it, bolted with iron hardware, and finally all cemented into place. On the Cincinnati side, work was delayed from the start. The construction crews could not pump water out of the excavating pit fast enough. They were attempting to dig to bedrock in the middle of a flowing river. Then everything stopped from 1861 to 1865 for the Civil War.

When the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge built 30-years later in NYC closely resembles it.