Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge
The Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton Bridge, also known as the Potomac River Bridge, is a 1.7-mile (2.7 km), four-lane continuous truss bridge that spans the Potomac River between Newburg in Charles County, Maryland and Dahlgren in King George County, Virginia, United States. It is one of eight toll facilities operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority, and is one of two toll bridges over the Potomac River. The other, the privately owned Oldtown Low Water Toll Bridge, connects Maryland and West Virginia, far upstream. The new Nice Bridge opened to traffic in October 2022. Demolition of the original bridge began on March 21, 2023.
Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge
Wide view of the bridge
A photograph of the Harry W. Nice Bridge taken from Virginia. The border with Maryland is at the foreground shoreline.
Early construction on the replacement bridge, April 2021
A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads across all the spans; in a series of simple trusses, each truss must be capable of supporting the entire load.
The Astoria–Megler Bridge is North America's longest continuous truss bridge.
Smaller continuous truss bridge over the Illinois River at Lacon, Illinois
The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
The Sciotoville Bridge (1916), the first continuous truss bridge in the United States.