I like Harris Riverfront Park here at Huntington. It was built in the 1980s, and it was the prototype for several similar parks that have been built in this area since then.
This is the Robert C. Byrd Bridge that crosses the Ohio River just below the park. Yeah, Byrd got his name on it, but locals refer to it as the 6th Street Bridge, which was the name of the old bridge that it replaced.
This bridge has four lanes with a concrete median wall separating traffic. The posted speed limit is 25 mph, but I don't know of anyone who observes it. I mean, 25 mph on a four-lane bridge with wide lanes and no cross traffic?
The 6th Street Bridge opened to traffic in the fall of 1994. The old bridge, which was immediately upstream, was demolished the following winter and spring.
This was probably the last steel truss bridge built across the Ohio. Unless I'm wrong, every bridge built since then has been of a cable stay design. West Virginia took bids for both a cable stay bridge and a steel bridge for this one. The steel bridge came in at far less than the cable stay, so it was selected.
Here are some evening shots taken from the park with a cheap smartphone camera.
The park is a nice place to hang out on a comfortably warm spring evening. The angle of the setting sun makes it a nice place to get pictures in the golden hour. It's one of my favorite places to get photos of my granddaughter.
