Vanport Bridge

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Vanport Bridge
The Vanport Bridge at dusk.
Coordinates	40°40′45″N 80°19′53″W / 40.67917°N 80.33139°W / 40.67917; -80.33139
Carries	4 lanes of I-376
Crosses	Ohio River
Locale	Vanport Township, Pennsylvania
Maintained by	PennDOT
Characteristics
Design	Continuous truss bridge
Longest span	220 m
History
Opened	1968
Location

The Vanport Bridge is a four-lane continuous truss bridge that carries Interstate 376 across the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States.

A total of $10,476,268 was spent on construction of the 1,762-foot bridge over the Ohio River connecting Vanport and Potter townships, which was opened to traffic on December 23, 1968.^[1] As a vital part of the Beaver Valley Expressway it was carrying approximately 30,000 vehicles daily in 1990.^[2]

In January 1990, the bridge was closed for three days after corrosion and fourteen cracks in welds were discovered during a routine Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) inspection. The cracks ranged in size from seven to thirty-four inches. Damage was located in the bottom truss plate that held the steel box beam in the central span.^[3] Passenger traffic was rerouted to the Rochester–Monaca Bridge; trucks — to the Shippingport Bridge. The Vanport Bridge remained restricted to traffic until October 2001, when an out of control apple truck crashed into a crew of carpenters, killing five. It reopened shortly after.^[4]

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• List of crossings of the Ohio River