Built as an alternative to the Superior viaduct bridge to alleviate traffic congestion, the Detroit-Superior Bridge (renamed the Veterans Memorial Bridge, as of 1989) was at one time among the largest steel and reinforced concrete bridges in the world. Completed in 1917 by Cleveland’s King Bridge Company, the bridge offered a 96- foot vertical clearance above the Cuyahoga River and the Flats to allow unobstructed ship traffic. This was a vast improvement to the Superior Viaduct, which had to swing open several times a day for ships travelling the Cuyahoga. The lower level of the bridge served streetcar traffic until 1954. Since its opening day, traffic congestion on the bridge remained a problem which was somewhat alleviated by the construction of the Lorain- Carnegie Bridge to the South, also in the Ohio City neighborhood. Additionally, two cantilevered lanes on either side of the top deck were added in 1968.
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