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Film transparency of of the Navajo Bridge, Grand Canyon, Arizona, circa 1930s

Image

File
Download pho017864.tif (image/tiff; 19.62 MB)

Information

Date

1930 to 1939

Description

A view of the Navajo Bridge from inside an adjacent stone building, possibly the Old Cliff Dwellers Lodge (Blanche Russell Rock House), that was built circa 1920. Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River's Marble Canyon near Lee's Ferry in Arizona. It carries U.S. Route 89A. Spanning Marble Canyon, the bridge carries U.S. Route 89A northbound travelers to southern Utah and to the Arizona Strip, the otherwise inaccessible portion of Arizona north of the Colorado River, which includes the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Prior to the construction of the first Navajo Bridge, the only river crossing from Arizona to Utah was at nearby Lee's Ferry, where the canyon walls are low and getting vehicles onto the water is relatively convenient. The ferry offered only unreliable service, however, as adverse weather and flooding regularly prevented its operation. Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. The steel spandrel bridge design was constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. The bridge is 834 feet (254 m) in length, with a maximum height of 467 feet (142 m) from the canyon floor. Its roadway offers an 18-foot (5.5 m) surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). In 1990, however, it was decided that the traffic flow was too great for the original bridge, and that a new solution was needed. Deciding on a solution was difficult, due to the many local interests. Issues included preservation of sacred Navajo land, endangered plant species in Marble Canyon, and the possibility of construction pollution entering the river. A new steel arch bridge was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and was completed in September 1995, at a cost of approximately $15 million. The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed nearby to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. Bungee jumpers are frequently seen using the span. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 13, 1981.

Digital ID

pho017864

Physical Identifier

0245_0050
    Details

    Citation

    pho017864. Anita Freeman Photograph Collection on Southern Nevada. PH-00245. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d1j38km9b.

    Rights

    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.

    Standardized Rights Statement

    Digital Provenance

    Digitized materials: physical originals can be viewed in Special Collections and Archives reading room

    Extent

    2933 x 2338 pixels
    4.888 x 3.897 inches
    20,572,942 bytes

    Language

    English

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Format

    image/tiff