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This is the final highway accident report (NTSB-HAR-71-1) from the National Transportation Safety Board, adopted in December 1970. It covers the collapse of the U.S. 35 bridge between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio, on December 15, 1967, which killed 46 people. The Board found that the cause was a cleavage fracture in eyebar 330 at joint C13N. That fracture grew from a flaw produced over 40 years by stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue, in a spot that could not be seen or found by inspection.
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as the cause of the minute cracks and that such cracks may be entirely undetectable in the present state of the art of bridge inspection without disassembly of members. The press release also noted that the State of West Virginia closed the St. Marys Bridge, a sister structure to the Point Pleasant Bridge, as a safety precautionary measure based upon the information developed during the investigation. This final report briefly reviews the activities and findings prior to issuance of the interim report, and covers the investigations conducted since that time. The results of the investigations are discussed with relationship to the cause of the collapse, and the consistency of the findings with the observations of survivors and witnesses. This report includes discussion of the status of bridge design technology in the era of 1926 when the Point Pleasant Bridge was designed, the relationship of that philosophy to present-day knowledge of structural behavior, and implications for public safety as regards other existing bridges and those in process of design. The detailed reports of separate investigations conducted by participating laboratories and consultants are listed as references. Only appropriate key findings and selected results are reported in the text. Certain other documentation not reproduced in formal reports is on file with the National Transportation Safety Board. The Safety Board gratefully acknowledges the invaluable assistance received during the investigations from the many individuals and organizations that participated. The Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, completed the massive recovery of the parts of the bridge from the Ohio River and conducted additional searches for missing parts. The Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration gave us continuing support and approval for expenditure of extensive research funds and provided professional assistance to the Safety Board through representatives from the Bureau of Public Roads and the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety. The Safety Board also expresses its appreciation to the representatives of the six Parties to the investigation, namely: 1. The States of West Virginia and Ohio 2. The consulting engineering firm of J. E. Greiner Company, Baltimore, Maryland 3. The consulting engineering firm of Modjeski and Masters, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 4. The consulting engineering firm of Hardesty and Hanover, New York City; and 5. The American Bridge Division of the United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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