The annual Mothman Festival is upcoming for 2008.

In 2007, on Tuesday, September 4th, U.S. 35, the same highway carried by the Silver Bridge that collapsed in 1967, began to show signs of collapsing. It had to be closed due to the road finally collapsing about three miles south of town of Henderson, just across from Point Pleasant. On Wednesday, a shut down of U.S. 35 was begun, as the collapsed bridge road goes over a small creek and carries heavy truck traffic. It lasted throughout the week until repairs could be made. A contractor replaced the bridge with a 7 foot diameter pipe and crews worked for 24 hours a day until the road was open and traffic flowing once again.

Traffic had to be diverted to W.Va. 62 (the road used by the Scarberrys and Mallettes to try to outrun Mothman in 1966) at the exit into Point Pleasant and at the Buffalo Bridge. Large truck drivers were being told to take W.Va. 2 north toward Interstate 77.

“U.S. 35 shut itself down,” one official said.

After the collapse of the I-35W Bridge at Minneapolis, I wrote here of the coincidences in the air (see Bridge Collapse: Flashback to 1967 and Beyond Mothman: I-35W Blues). In a strange twist of fate, Ohio’s and West Virginia’s U.S. Highway 35 was the road carried over the Ohio by the Silver Bridge. Then in 2007, came news of this little U.S. 35 bridge collapse.

It appeared in Ohio and West Virginia, U. S. 35 was becoming more significant. U.S. Highway 35 has been the topic of discussion in 2007, in Charleston and Washington, D.C., as county leaders try to get funding for a new road that would be four-lanes from the existent four-lane highway in Henderson to Interstate 64 in Teays Valley. Construction on the Putnam County side of the road has been progressing with the Mason County portion set to turn dirt sometime soon.

Click image for a full size version. “The Curse Continues” © Charles Berlin 2007