Red Rock Bridge

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Coordinates: 34 ° 43 ′ 5 ″  N , 114 ° 29 ′ 16 ″  W.

Red Rock Bridge
Red Rock Bridge
The bridge shortly before completion in 1890
Convicted Railroad, Route 66 from 1947
Subjugated Colorado River
place Topock , Arizona , USA
construction Cantilever -steel truss bridge
overall length 300 m
Number of openings 2
Clear height 12 m
building-costs 500,000 US dollars
start of building 1890
opening 1890
Status Demolished in 1976
planner John Alexander Low Waddell
closure 1966
location
Red Rock Bridge (Arizona)
Red Rock Bridge

The Red Rock Bridge was a bridge over the Colorado River in Topock , Arizona that was used by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad to cross the river. The structure was erected in 1890 and replaced a wooden bridge from 1883 that had washed away several times during the spring floods. The railroad used the bridge until a new bridge was built in 1945. Thereafter, the Red Rock Bridge was converted into a road bridge to accommodate vehicle traffic on Route 66 . The bridge fulfilled this function from 1947 to 1966, when Route 66 was replaced by Interstate 40 . The bridge was abandoned and finally dismantled in 1976.

history

Route map of the Atlantic & Pacific

In 1880, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad began construction of a railroad line west of Isleta , New Mexico to meet the Southern Pacific in Needles , California on the western bank of the Colorado River just north of Topock. The Southern Pacific was simultaneously building from Mohave to Needles in an easterly direction. Construction of the line reached Kingman , Arizona in 1882 . The first bridge over the Colorado River was made of wood and was completed in May 1883. The two railways finally met in Needles on August 9 of the same year. The river crossing was in Eastbridge , about three miles south of Needles. This bridge was more than 490 meters long and on pillars established that in the alluvial base of the flood plain of the Mohave Valley were driven. The bridge therefore did not have a solid base on the bank.

The wooden bridge was washed away in 1884, rebuilt and destroyed again in 1886 and again in 1888. So the railway company looked for a better location and an improved bridge that could withstand the river's heavy floods causing snowmelt. The new river crossing was about 15 km further south at Topock, where the bridge could be built on rock.

In 1890 the railroad hired the Phoenix Iron Company to build a new bridge. It was one of the first steel bridges in the country, and it cost nearly $ 500,000 to build, which was considered very expensive at the time. The bridge was a single-track, around 300 m long cantilever bridge . The bridge had a central main span with a length of 100 m and a clearance above the high water level of the river of 12 m; it consisted of 750 tons of steel. Their planning came from John Alexander Low Waddell , who supervised the construction. The bridge was erected within 80 days and at the time it was the longest cantilever bridge in the United States.

The bridge was built at the entrance of Mohave Canyon , in the Topock Gorge , on piles of red sandstone , which in Prescott Junction broken was. The piers on each of the two banks are two hundred meters apart - a third is in between in the river, 43 meters from the western bank - were built by Sooysmith & Co. The connection of the new bridge to the existing line required the railway to be re-routed over a length of around 21.5 km. 16 km of this was on the California side and about 5.5 km on the Arizona side.

Due to the increasing weight of the trains, the bridge was reinforced in 1901 with additional girders and beams. Even heavier locomotives required further reinforcement of the framework in 1910 .

Early use by motor vehicles

Automobiles on National Old Trails Road crossed the Colorado River by ferry at Needles in the early 1900s. A flood in 1914 interrupted the ferry's operation and the bridge was used by vehicles. The railway workers allowed their use between the scheduled trains. For this purpose, planks were placed over the rails. The railway company required drivers to pay a toll for this . This practice continued until the Old Trails Bridge , about 250 m away , was opened on February 20, 1916 .

Game reserve

In 1941, around 50 km of the lower reaches of the Colorado River, between Needles and Lake Havasu City, Arizona, were placed under protection as the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge to create a habitat for migratory birds . The Red Rock Bridge was within the reservation.

New building

In 1945 the railway company (now the Santa Fe ) built a new railway bridge about 200 m upriver along with a re-routing of the railway line over a length of about 8 km west of the Red Rock Bridge. The railway company had agreed to remove the old bridge upon approval. Since the nearby Old Trails Bridge proved to be inadequate for the now strongly increased passenger and truck traffic on Route 66, it was decided to use the bridge for road traffic. Rebuilding the bridge for this purpose was cheaper than demolishing it. A bill introduced by Arizona Senator Ernest McFarland on November 30, 1944, and later passed by the United States Congress, allowed the railroad to transfer ownership of the bridge to the states of California and Arizona. President Roosevelt signed the bill on January 6, 1945, and the two states jointly owned the bridge on August 24, 1945 in the office of Arizona Governor Sidney Osborn . In addition to the bridge, several kilometers of the no longer required railway line in the vicinity of the bridge were transferred. The sleepers were removed and replaced with a concrete pavement, which cost about $ 60,000. California made $ 130,000 available for the project, which included work on the bridge accesses. The bridge allowed crossing the river without the weight limit that applied to the Old Trails Bridge. On May 21, 1947, the Red Rock Bridge was opened to motor vehicle traffic. It served this purpose for nearly twenty years until Interstate 40 was completed with a four-lane steel bridge. The old bridge was abandoned in 1966 and stood without use until it was demolished in 1976.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ^ A b Richard E. Lingenfelter: Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916 . The University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1978, ISBN 0-8165-0650-7 , p. 82, (Retrieved April 18, 2017).
  2. ↑ Linda Fitzpatrick, James M. Conkle: Needles, Images of America . Arcadia Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7385-8064-7 , p. 29.
  3. ^ A b c d e Russell A. Olsen: The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found . Voyageur Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-61060-013-2 , p. 288.
  4. ↑ a b Steel Construction Digest . American Institute of Steel Construction, 1944.
  5. ^ Henry Grattan Tyrell: History of Bridge Engineering . The GB Williams Co. Printers, Chicago 1911, p. 273-274 ( archive.org ).
  6. ^ Pete Lowenthal: The New Bridge . In: The Arizona Sentinel , Newspapers.com, February 9, 1889, p. 3. Retrieved April 18, 2017. 
  7. ^ Joe Sonderman: Images of American Route 66 in Arizona . Arcadia Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7385-7942-9 , p. 127.
  8. ↑ About the Refuge - Havasu National Wildlife Refuge . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ a b c d $ 130,000 Allocated For Desert Highway Bridge . In: The San Bernardino County Sun , Newspapers.com, July 20, 1945, p. 5. Retrieved April 24, 2017.  
  10. ↑ Uncle Sam Offered AT & S.F. Bridge . In: Oakland Tribure , Newspapers.com, Nov. 30, 1944, p. 11. Retrieved April 18, 2017.  
  11. ^ Bill Signed to Convey Bridge to West States . In: Tuscon Daily Citizen , Newspapers.com, Jan 6, 1945, p. 9. Retrieved April 18, 2017.  
  12. ^ Railway Bridge Is To Carry Highway . In: Tuscon Daily Citizen , Newspapers.com, August 24, 1945, p. 14. Retrieved April 18, 2017.