Mystery Bridge 111: A Valley Bridge that used to serve a Major Highway

Photographer Nicolas Beauchamp and other bridge enthusiasts need your help in solving this case. This towering viaduct, which features a deck plate girder bridge, supported by A-framed towers, was found recently by accident. Given its age and the number of years it has been sitting abandoned, the viaduct appears to be between 90 and 100 years old, and it features a pair of finial towers at the center of the bridge deck. Given the density of the forest, one needs to narrow down the location of the bridge to the western half of the US. As there is speculation that the bridge used to go along the Mother Highway US 66, this means that somewhere in Oklahoma, New Mexico or eastern California was where this bridge was located. It is possible that because of its narrowness, it may have been the first highway crossing before it was relocated on a different alignment, where the newer highway was wider and had two-lanes accommodating traffic. One cannot even rule out the possibility that prior to it becoming a highway crossing, it used to serve rail traffic, providing train service to southern California from an unknown destination in the East.

So let’s summarize what we know:

1. The bridge is a viaduct featuring a steel girder (three spans) supported by A-frame concrete towers spanning a deep valley

2. The viaduct is around a century old

3. The viaduct may have been a railroad crossing before becoming a highway one.

4. The bridge may have been part of a major highway before it was rendered functionally obsolete. Many claim that it was part of US Hwy. 66 but other highways may have played a role.

5. The bridge is located in southwestern US- if confirmed with the Route 66 theory, then it is located in Oklahoma, New Mexico or California. Arizona has mostly desert regions with little trees, making its location more unlikely.

 

What do we need to know?

1. Where exactly is the bridge located?

2. When was it exactly built and who was the bridge builder?

3. If it used to serve a railroad and/or main highway, which routes were they?

We have to keep in mind that despite state aid highways having existed since the turn of the century in general, the US highway system was introduced in 1926, the same year that US 66 was designated as a highway connecting Chicago with Los Angeles via St. Louis, Tulsa and Santa Fe.

What do you know about this bridge?  Provide your comments here as well as in the Chronicles’ social media pages. Whatever information is useful will be added here.

And as for the photo taken by Mr. Beauchamp, many thanks and the bridge does have a nice green background to it. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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