The storied history of the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge

Atop a bridge in Page, just a couple miles from the Arizona-Utah state line is a picturesque view or, if you’re afraid of heights, an absolutely terrifying one.

We’re talking about the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge, which, when it was built in 1959 was the highest arch bridge in the world. It’s no longer the highest in the world– that honor goes to Chenab Rail Bridge in India – but at 700 feet high, it’s still way up there.

The beginnings of the bridge began in the early 1900s, when the U.S. Reclamation Service, the predecessor to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, began planning a major dam of the Colorado River in the area of Lees Ferry in northern Arizona. In 1957, construction began on the Glen Canyon Dam and it was completed in 1963. 

The Glen Canyon Dam Bridge opened a few years earlier, in 1959, and a dedication ceremony was attended by Arizona Gov. Paul Fannin and because of its proximity to Utah, the Beehive State’s Governor George D. Clyde, along with other state and federal officials.

The bridge had a two-hinge design with a spandrel-branched arch, concrete deck and steel beam guardrails, much of which remain the same today. It is 1,000 feet high and more than 700 feet above the Colorado River, making it higher than any other bridge in the United States.

At the same time, the route of US 89 changed to travel through Page instead of Fredonia, which made that section of highway the alternative, US 89A.

What are some of your favorite memories driving on the bridge? We’d love to hear about them.