Rainbow Bridge (Texas)
Coordinates: 29 ° 58 ′ 50 ″ N , 93 ° 52 ′ 13 ″ W.
| Rainbow Bridge | ||
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| use | Road bridge, two-lane | |
| Convicted | TX 73 , TX 87 | |
| Crossing of | Neches River | |
| place | Port Arthur , Bridge City | |
| construction | Gerber girder bridge | |
| overall length | 2363 | |
| Longest span | 210 | |
| Clear height | 54 | |
| completion | September 8, 1938 | |
| construction time | 1936-1938 | |
| location | ||
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| Above sea level | 0 m | |
The Rainbow Bridge ( English for " Rainbow Bridge ") is a Gerber girder bridge over the Neches River in the southeast of the US state of Texas above its confluence with Sabine Lake . The two State Highways TX 73 and TX 87 lead from Port Arthur in Jefferson County on the southwest bank of the river to Bridge City in Orange County on the northeast bank.
Construction of the bridge began in 1936 under the direction of the Texas State Highway Department . Due to concerns from the upstream town of Beaumont that the bridge could pose a threat to ships, the Rainbow Bridge was built with a span of 210 m. It also has a clearance height of 54 m. Thus she would have been able to let the tallest ship in the US Navy at the time , the USS Patoka , pass under her, but this never happened.
The bridge was completed on September 8, 1938. The nearby town of Prairie View was named because of the bridge in Bridge City (" Bridge City ").
The bridge was initially called Port Arthur-Orange Bridge . It got its current name in 1957. The bridge has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996 .
Veterans Memorial Bridge
In 1988, construction began on the neighboring Veterans Memorial Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge . The bridge runs parallel to the Rainbow Bridge. It has a clear height of 43.5 m.
After the completion of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge was closed for renovation work. Since it reopened in 1997, Rainbow Bridge has only been navigable in a westerly direction, while traffic to the east is handled by the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Web links
- Mildred S. Wright: Rainbow Bridge. In: The Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), 1999 ff (English, tshaonline.org ).
- Rainbow Bridge. In: Structurae
- Rainbow Bridge . In: HABS / HAER
Individual evidence
- ↑ dot.state.tx.us ( Memento from October 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ ohwy.com
- ↑ dot.state.tx.us ( Memento from March 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive )