Peter Guice Memorial Bridge

Peter Guice Memorial Bridge
Coordinates 35°16′26″N 82°22′26″W / 35.27389°N 82.37389°W / 35.27389; -82.37389Coordinates: 35°16′26″N 82°22′26″W / 35.27389°N 82.37389°W / 35.27389; -82.37389
Carries I-26 / US 74
Crosses Green River
Locale Henderson County
Named for Peter Guice
Owner NCDOT
Maintained by NCDOT
Characteristics
Design Steel continuous, girder and floorbeam system
Total length 1,050 feet (320 m)
Width 28 feet (8.5 m)
Height 225 feet (69 m)
History
Construction end 1968
Construction cost $3.8 million
Opened 1972
Replaces Howard Gap Rd Toll Bridge II
Statistics
Daily traffic 39,000[1] (2016)
References
[2][3][4]

The Peter Guice Memorial Bridge consists of dual two-lane automobile bridges carrying I-26/US 74 across the Green River, located between East Flat Rock and Saluda, in Henderson County, North Carolina. Surpassed only by the Phil G. McDonald Bridge in West Virginia and the Emlenton Bridge in Pennsylvania, it is the third-highest bridge carrying an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States at 225 feet (69 m) tall. Each bridge is 1,050 feet (320 m) long and 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, with two 12-foot (3.7 m) travel lanes and 2-foot (0.61 m) shoulders. In 1993, both bridges were rehabilitated after missing welds and poor welds were found in the structures.

As of July 2018, both bridges are rated structurally deficient and functionally obsolete in the National Bridge Inventory.[5] A rehabilitation project is scheduled for the bridges in 2019.[6]

The bridge is dedicated to the memory of Peter Guice, who built the first toll bridge over the Green River in 1820; it replaced a hazardous ford along Howard Gap Road. An unrecorded flood washed out the toll bridge, but was replaced by his son; the second toll bridge was destroyed by flood in 1916. The current bridge is located high above where the former bridges once stood.[7]


See also

References

  1. ↑ "NCDOT 2016 Interstate Freeway Report" (PDF). Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Uglybridges.com: I-26,US 74 EBL over Green River". Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Uglybridges.com: I-26,US 74 WBL over Green River". Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Bridgehunter.com: Peter Guice Memorial Bridge". Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "NCDOT Statewide Bridges" (PDF). Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  6. ↑ "NCDOT 12 Month Central Let List (August 2018 - July 2019)" (PDF). Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  7. ↑ Historic Saluda Committee (2015). Saluda. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-2169-9.


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