John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge
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Covington and Cincinnati Suspension Bridge
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A view of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge from Covington, Kentucky on the south bank of the Ohio River with Cincinnati in the background
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| Location | Cincinnati, Ohio to Covington, Kentucky |
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| Coordinates | 39°5′32.03″N 84°30′34.45″W / 39.0922306°N 84.5095694°WCoordinates: 39°5′32.03″N 84°30′34.45″W / 39.0922306°N 84.5095694°W |
| Built | 1856—1867 |
| Architect | John A. Roebling |
| NRHP Reference # | 75000786 |
| Added to NRHP | May 15, 1975 |
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span. Pedestrians use the bridge to get between the sports venues in Cincinnati (Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ball Park, and U.S. Bank Arena) and the hotels, bars, restaurants, and parking lots in Northern Kentucky. The bar and restaurant district at the foot of the bridge on the Kentucky side is known as Roebling Point.
Ramps were constructed leading directly from the bridge to the Dixie Terminal building used for streetcars. These provided Covington–Cincinnati streetcars "with a grade-separated route to the center of downtown, and the terminal building was originally intended to connect, via underground pedestrian passages, with the never-built Fountain Square Station of the infamous Cincinnati Subway." When streetcar service ceased in the 1950s the terminal was converted to a diesel bus terminal. The ramps were removed in 1998 when it ceased being used as a bus terminal.
In the decades before 1856, want and need of a passage over the Ohio River was apparent. Commerce between Ohio and Kentucky could not continue unless some form of transportation was devised that did not bow to the whims of mother nature. The distance from shore to shore was great and the steamboat traffic highly congested. The only solution that would not constrict traffic on the river even further was a wire cable suspension bridge of the type developed by French engineers. Several American engineers had begun designing and building suspension bridges. One of these men was John A. Roebling of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. The Ohio River, however, was much wider than any river that had been bridged in France.
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