Short Span Steel Bridges 
There is a story behind the news of the reopening of Cherry Valley Road with the installation of the new Showman Arch Bridge.
It is about the immigration of a penniless young tailor from Belarus in 1895 whose younger son became a mechanical engineer and fought for Liberty in World War II by building B-29 bombers in Cleveland.
It is also about the brilliant young engineer from India who went to work for the company founded by the tailor’s sons, became a registered professional civil engineer in Ohio, and designed the Liberty Bridge that was erected over the Showman Arch to reopen Cherry Valley Road. His son is also a civil engineer, as well as a serving Lieutenant in the US Navy.
The original Showman Arch Bridge was built in 1833 as an Ohio & Erie Canal aqueduct and later became a road bridge.
Temporary or Permanent, Which Is It?
The obvious link between these engineers from across the world and generations is the Liberty bridge itself. It has been described as “temporary” and “permanent”, so which is it? Actually, it is a steel truss bridge that is designed to be both and would be a very interesting case study for the engineering students at Ohio State University’s Newark Branch as well as physics classes at Newark High School.
First and foremost, Liberty is a truss bridge, the roots of which predate the ancient Romans. The idea of spanning a waterway with a stone arch evolved into a span of wood made of a triangle – the first truss. If you look up, you can see an original example above the doorway when you visit the Pantheon in Rome (126 A.D.).
Drone footage from the ribbon cutting ceremony in April 2023.
Galvanizing Ensures 75-Year Service Life
Today, the modern truss bridge is a highly efficient structure of mostly empty space with the loads being carried along its triangular members. U.S. Bridge in Cambridge was the first company to connect those members with welds instead of rivets, and to dip them in a molten zinc bath of 800 degrees Fahrenheit to protect them against corrosion.
Today, our bridges are bolted, instead of welded, but zinc galvanizing is still the most effective means of ensuring the 75-year service life specified by AASHTO, the group of official highway engineers that write standards for all bridges.
Zinc galvanizing ensures a 75-year service life for the Liberty Bridge.
Steel Offers Flexibility
The unique feature of the Liberty Bridge is its flexibility in being shorter or longer, permanent or temporary, all as required by its specific location. Its permanence is made possible by the size and weight of its steel members, each designed to carry the live load of crossing traffic for the required number of years.
The Showman Arch Liberty Bridge, for example, is designed to carry the live load of 14,000 heavy vehicles per day for 75 years, regardless of its eventual location or length, and can be disassembled into shorter spans for other locations without affecting its load capacity or design life.
As a steel bridge company, we like to compare the durability and flexibility of Liberty with concrete bridges which must remain in one place and, due to their porosity, typically have a much shorter service life because of internal, concealed corrosion.
It must be remembered, however, that while your Liberty Bridge was designed by engineers from two continents, it was selected for Newark by its equally brilliant City Engineer, Brian Morehead, and Mayor Jeff Hall, who deserve all the credit for their outstanding service to you, the citizens.
We are proud of our bridge, and you should be proud of them.
Richard D. Rogovin studied Civil Engineering at Cornell University, is chairman of U.S. Bridge in Cambridge, and a Westerville attorney.
Contact U.S. Bridge for more information.
