Saturday, March 29, 2014

So much for going down to the river this week

We've had rain all day here in Huntington WV, and the forecast calls for more rain, and rain turning to snow overnight, but with no accumulation.

The rain means the river will be rising. Adam and I were down on the riverbank yesterday evening, and it was barely dry enough to walk on. What we walked on yesterday will be under water soon if it's not already.

I checked the river stage forecasts for various cities, and this is what I found, with the first number being the most recent measurement and the second number being the highest forecast for the next few days.

Pittsburgh: 16.75 rising to 17.2

Wheeling:16.32 rising to 24.8 Sunday afternoon.

Parkersburg at the Willow Island Locks and Dam: 13.9 rising to 22.5 by Monday morning.

Point Pleasant: 25.14 rising to 28.8 by Monday evening.

Huntington: 26.2 rising to 34.7 by Monday morning.

Cincinnati: 28.39 rising to 38.4 by Tuesday evening.

Louisville: 17.31 rising to 36.3 by Wednesday evening.

Evansville: 17.78 rising to 28.8 by Friday evening.

Paducah: 13.93 rising to 17.0 by Wednesday evening.

Cairo: 22.03 rising to 23.6 by Wednesday evening.

So it looks like not a lot of riverbank photography will be going on this week, at least in my stretch of the river.

Adventures in black and white

Some photos work in both color and black and white, and some should stay in color.

This morning I uploaded some black and white photos to my Flickr account. They were originally shot in color and then changed to black and white to see how they looked.

You be the judge.

The M/V Dan Elder at the mouth of the Kanawha River.

The M/V Sandy Drake as seen from the ridge at Mound Hill Cemetery in Gallipolis OH.

The M/V Roger W. Keeney entering the mouth of the Kanawha on a windy, rainy day.

The M/V Charleston moving lightboat.

Adam steering the sternwheeler Port Explorer on a hot, hot day.

The M/V Fred Way.

The Hi Carpenter Bridge as seen from St. Marys WV.

The Pleasants Power Station as seen on a foggy morning.

The M/V Michael J. Grainger.

And the bridges of Parkersburg WV.

Market Street Bridge

It opened in 1904, but it looks like the Market Street Bridge in Steubenville, Ohio, will be around at least 20 more years while West Virginia or whoever decides how to replace it. With bridges costing in the hundreds of millions now, it may be longer than that. You never know.

A group met this week to discuss the future of the bridge. Adam and I crossed it a couple of years ago when we were up that way last. A few observations"

1. West Virginians love the color combination of blue and gold, but come on.


2. The combination of a basic suspension bridge with the addition of a Warren through truss makes this one odd-looking bridge.


3. Does anyone like driving over a steel grid roadway? It's better than no bridge at all, I guess. I remember the first time I drove a car with wide tires over a grid bridge deck. The first thirty feet or so, that car drifted like it was on an ice road until I figured out what was going on.