17 Days That Changed America

Just before sunset at 5:10pm on December 15, 1967, the light to the west exit of the Silver Bridge near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, turns red. This causes the twenty-nine vehicles heading toward the Ohio side of the bridge to come to a standstill. Included in the line of vehicles are twenty-two cars, six tractor-trailers, and one pick-up truck. The last car in the line of traffic heading west is slightly east of the center of the bridge’s 700-foot middle span. As for the eight vehicles heading east on the bridge, including six cars and two dump trucks, the traffic is moving. The total weight of all vehicles on the bridge is nearly 487,000 pounds. And then it happens…