Red Cliff Bridge

Infobox Bridge
bridge_name=Red Cliff Bridge


caption=
official_name=
carries=Vehicle traffic
crosses=Eagle River
locale=near Vail, Colorado
maint=
id=
design=Arch bridge
mainspan=317.8 ft (96.3 m)
length=470 ft (142.4 m)
width=29.8 ft (9 m)
height=
load=
clearance=
below=
traffic=
begin=1939
complete=1940
open=1941
closed=
toll=
map_cue=
map_

map_text=
map_width=
coordinates=coord|39|30|30|N|106|22|36|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title

Red Cliff Bridge (also known as the Eagle River Bridge) is an arch bridge near Vail, Colorado that carries U.S. Highway 24 over the Eagle River. It is one of only two steel arch bridges within the entire statecite journal | last=Shanks | first=Nancy | date=September/October 2005 | title=Preserving Red Cliff Arch | journal=Public Roads | volume=69 | issue=2 | url=http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/05sep/03.htm | accessdate=2007-08-13] and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (reference number 85000204cite web | url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/ | title=National Register Information System | date=2006-03-15 | work=National Register of Historic Places | publisher=National Park Service] ).

The bridge was designed by King Burghardt and built in 1939. Construction was difficult, with workers starting with a cantilevered design, sometimes in sub-zero (below -32°C) temperatures hanging over a 200 foot (61 m) drop. Burghardt wrote in his journal, "In the morning, each gang was lifted to its scaffold on a platform hung from the high line. They took their lunches with them and spent the entire day in the air with the winter wind continually blowing up the canyon." The steel erection superintendent for the project was Earl "Doc" Lay of Minneapolis Steel Company.

Over the years, the bridge's condition deteriorated, necessitating restoration work, which was completed in November 2004 at a cost of $3.6 million, with slightly half of that coming from the Federal Highway Administration. [cite web | url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa0504d.htm | title=U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces $6.4 Million for Colorado Highway, Bridge Projects | publisher=Federal Highway Administration | date=May 4, 2004 | accessdate=2007-08-13] The bridge deck was replaced and widened and much of the steel were repainted. However, because of the bridge's historic status, care was taken to maintain the visual aesthetic. The rehabilitation effort won the 2005 National Steel Bridge Alliance Prize Bridge Award for Reconstructed Bridge. [cite web | url=http://www.steelbridges.org/pages/2005winners.html | title=2005 Winners | publisher=National Steel Bridge Alliance | date=December 1, 2005 | accessdate=2007-08-13]

References