It was designed as a cantilever bridge having four spans and over 2,640 feet long (or a half mile long). It proved to be a good decision because by September 1940, approximately 7,000 motorists used the bridge a week. The construction cost $2,500,000 and the OBC determined a toll would be used to offset the cost. The bridge was built and completed in June 1940. Source: UASC, Evansville Postcard collection, RH 033-316. Postcard of the Owensboro Bridge, circa 1970. Both Indiana and Kentucky would have to work together on the bridge project because it would be shared between the two states. Congress created the Owensboro Bridge Commission (OBC) oversee the construction, maintenance, and operation of the bridge near the city of Owensboro. There were three reasons for a bridge were to improve the interstate commerce, improve the postal service, and provide for military and other purposes.

Cary Bridge, locally known as the Blue Bridge in Owensboro, Kentucky.īefore the bridge was opened in 1954, talks about building it started back in August 1937 in Congress. One bridge that has stood over the mighty Ohio River for eighty years has been the Glover H. For example, the New Harmony Toll Bridge was iconic to the town of New Harmony, Indiana and Crossville, Illinois, as I previously wrote back in December 2017. They are symbols of history and help connect local communities together. They maybe concrete and steel but they are more than that. Scattered along the Ohio River, bridges have connected the Tri-State region together and for travelers of the Midwest. Source: UASC, Thomas Mueller collection, MSS 247-1476. Glover Cary Bridge (also known as the Blue Bridge) in Owensboro, Kentucky, 1941.

Gramps owensboro