Peter Guice Memorial Bridge

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox bridge

| bridge_name = Peter Guice Memorial Bridge

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| named_for = Peter Guice

| carries = {{Jct|state=NC|I|26|US|74}}

| crosses = Green River

| locale = Henderson County

| owner = NCDOT

| maint = NCDOT

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| design = Steel continuous, girder and floorbeam system

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| length = {{convert|1,050|ft|m}}

| width = {{convert|28|ft|m}}

| height = {{convert|225|ft|m}}

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| complete = 1968

| cost = $3.8 million

| open = 1972

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| traffic = 44,500{{cite web|url=https://ncdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5f6fe58c1d90482ab9107ccc03026280|title=NCDOT Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) Mapping Application|access-date=December 15, 2020}} (2019)

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| replaces = Howard Gap Rd Toll Bridge II

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| coordinates = {{coord|35.27389|-82.37389|display=inline,title}}

| references = {{cite web|url=http://uglybridges.com/1328158|title=Uglybridges.com: I-26,US 74 EBL over Green River|access-date=June 21, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://uglybridges.com/1328154|title=Uglybridges.com: I-26,US 74 WBL over Green River|access-date=June 21, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://bridgehunter.com/nc/henderson/bh55022/|title=Bridgehunter.com: Peter Guice Memorial Bridge|access-date=June 21, 2015}}

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The Peter Guice Memorial Bridge consists of dual two-lane automobile bridges carrying I-26/US 74 across the Green River, located between East Flat Rock and Saluda, in Henderson County, North Carolina. Surpassed only by the Phil G. McDonald Bridge in West Virginia and the Emlenton Bridge in Pennsylvania, it is the third-highest bridge carrying an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States at {{convert|225|ft|m}} tall. Each bridge is {{convert|1050|ft|m}} long and {{convert|28|ft|m}} wide, with two {{convert|12|ft|m|adj=on}} travel lanes and {{convert|2|ft|m|adj=on}} shoulders. In 1993, both bridges were rehabilitated after missing welds and poor welds were found in the structures.

As of July 2018, both bridges are rated structurally deficient and functionally obsolete in the National Bridge Inventory.{{cite web|url=https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/bridges/Documents/StatewideBridges.pdf|title=NCDOT Statewide Bridges|access-date=July 27, 2018}} A major rehabilitation project for the bridges is scheduled to begin in 2021.{{cite web|url=https://connect.ncdot.gov/letting/12%20Month%20Tentative%20Letting%20Library/12%20MONTH%20LET%20LIST%20(DECEMBER%202020%20-%20NOVEMBER%202021).pdf|title=NCDOT 12 Month Central Let List (December 2020 - November 2021)|access-date=December 15, 2020}}

The bridge is dedicated to the memory of Peter Guice, who built the first toll bridge over the Green River in 1820; it replaced a hazardous ford along Howard Gap Road. An unrecorded flood washed out the toll bridge, but was replaced by his son; the second toll bridge was destroyed by flood in 1916. The current bridge is located high above where the former bridges once stood.{{cite book | title= Saluda | author = Historic Saluda Committee | publisher = Arcadia Publishing | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1-4671-2169-9}}