While the American Bridge Company constructed dozens bridges throughout the US that year, the last one linking Ambridge and Woodlawn across the Ohio river was likely to have been the shortest distance hauled from factory to construction site. When the Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge opened to the public that winter, the local paper reported the usual fanfare, commemorations, and even an “aerial bombardment”. The extreme convenience of building a bridge with one end adjacent to a steel plant and the other in the bridge company’s fabrication yard was duly noted. Local supporters claimed, “Only the paint had to be brought in”. Even the gravel and sand for the piers were excavated from the river by the local contractor, Dravo.
