Field Notes Ohio

Ohio's parks, forests and wildlife areas with camping, the ancient mounds beside them, and the Buckeye Trail that links them. Stories, trails, wildlife, and where to eat and fuel up nearby. Book campsites on ReserveOhio.
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The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop around Ohio, with all 26 sections.
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Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
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Historic Sites39 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
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Road Trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
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Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
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Oddities & Roadside Attractions19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
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Caves & Caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
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Waterfalls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
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Lake ErieWest Virginia27 places277 places77 places73 places35 places519 places1913 places1319 places1916 places168 places810 places1010 places109 places98 places820 places204 places43 places3Barkcamp State Park4 places47 places77 places76 places69 places917 places173 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places2Forked Run State Park3 places32 places26 places610 places103 places32 places2

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117 parks in 7 regions

The Y-Bridge

Zanesville · Muskingum County
Bridge

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.
Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Approximate — boundary or exact point not confirmed
Approximate location, use the address
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

A Y-shaped bridge over the meeting of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, famous for the joke that you can cross it and end up on the same side you started.

Site
The fifth bridge built where the Licking River meets the Muskingum, since a wooden trestle went up around 1813
Best known predecessor
A covered wooden bridge completed in 1832, designed by Catherinus Buckingham, which collapsed during construction, killing its owner and a worker, but then stood for about 68 years
Current bridge
Built 1980 to 1984 by C.J. Mahon Construction, about 905 feet long with a 133-foot main span, styled after the 1902 bridge it replaced
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, November 2, 1973
Claim
Often billed as the only bridge in the world where you can cross a river and end up on the same side you started; true Y-shaped bridges also exist elsewhere, including the Tridge in Midland, Michigan
Zanesville
Founded at this river junction in 1798 as a stop on Zane's Trace, the first federally authorized road in the United States

The story

Zanesville grew up around the point where the Licking River flows into the Muskingum, a spot the town has crossed with a Y-shaped bridge since a wooden trestle went up around 1813 and 1814. The best remembered of the early bridges, a partly covered wooden through-truss, was completed in December 1832 to a design by Catherinus Buckingham, built under his father Ebenezer's supervision. During construction a flood threatened its piers, and when workers pulled the wedges supporting the falsework to let debris pass, the unfinished span collapsed, killing the bridge's owner and a worker. The bridge that followed nonetheless stood for roughly 68 years before it was closed around 1900 as unsafe.

Its replacement, finished in 1902 and engineered by Edward Landor, was one of the earliest concrete-and-steel bridges built in the United States and lasted nearly 80 years, surviving a 1913 flood that destroyed its balustrades, before it too was condemned in 1979. The current, fifth bridge went up from 1980 to 1984, built in steel by C.J. Mahon Construction in a form meant to echo the 1902 bridge, though its solid railings have drawn some local criticism for blocking the river views the older, more open bridges offered. Aviator Amelia Earhart is said to have called Zanesville the most recognizable city in the country from the air, because of the bridge's odd shape, and the old joke about crossing the river and ending up on the same side has followed the bridge through all five of its versions.

The claim that it is the only such bridge in the world is a local exaggeration; a handful of other Y- or T-shaped bridges exist elsewhere, though Zanesville's is among the oldest and best known.

Visiting

Status
Open; public road bridge
Hours
Always open; it carries US-40 and has sidewalks for pedestrians.
Cost
Free.
Phone
Visit Zanesville, 740-455-8282
Please note
A 1974 historical marker stands at the eastern approach on Main Street; for a wide photo, continue west to the Putnam Park overlook.
Address
US-40 (Main St) at Linden Ave, Zanesville, OH 43701
More information →DirectionsShow on the map

Hours, prices and even the attractions themselves can change. Confirm before a long drive.

Parks nearby

Dillon State Park
About 7 miles · A big lake park near Zanesville.
Open
Blue Rock State Park
About 12 miles · A quiet lake park south of Zanesville.
Open

Road trips

Historic National Road (US 40)
A road trip that passes near this stop
Open

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.