Reusing arches to widen Cedar Canyon Bridge

Reusing arches to widen Cedar Canyon Bridge

Reusing arches to widen Cedar Canyon Bridge

By Kathy Cline / ADOT Communications

May 11, 2024

Here’s a trivia question: What Arizona bridge was doubled in width using an existing bridge arch?

The answer? "Cedar Canyon Bridge."

So, how exactly was this done and why? Let’s review a bit of history.

The Cedar Canyon Bridge, located about 15 miles east of Show Low on US 60, was originally a 180-foot span ribbed girder arch bridge completed in September 1937. Its total length was 250 feet; it measured 24 feet in width. In 1994, after 57 years of taking traffic, ADOT determined the bridge needed to be widened and the deck rehabilitated.

Instead of using new arches for the widening, an arch from the identical Corduroy Creek Bridge, which is about five miles from the Cedar Canyon Bridge, was placed parallel to the Cedar Canyon Bridge arch.

This archived ADOT webpage shares the lengths went to to maintain the bridge’s appearance:

“Every effort was made to maintain the appearance of the original structure while rehabilitating the Cedar Canyon Bridge. As many pieces of the original bridge as possible were reused, including the tower fasciae. The traffic barriers were reconstructed using concrete jersey barriers with the original barrier pattern inset into the back face. In addition, button head bolts were used for the new connections to simulate the appearance of the original riveted connections.”

Moving the Corduroy Creek Bridge arch was a big lift.

The arch was moved in a single piece to save time and money. According to this report, “The contractor used two cranes to lift the arch at Corduroy onto a tractor driven dolly system. [US 60] was closed for two hours as the truck mounted arch was driven to the Cedar Canyon site and then lowered onto the new skewback foundations. Once the arch was in place, the new superstructure and deck were constructed.”

The second phase of rehabilitation, according to the archive webpage, consisted of routing the traffic onto the widened half, removing the deck, floor beams and stringers from the original Cedar Canyon Bridge, and then replacing them with a strengthened system.

Today, the widened Cedar Canyon Bridge carries two-way traffic on one of the most scenic sections of US 60.

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Chevelon Creek Bridge is bypassed, but not forgotten

Chevelon Creek Bridge is bypassed, but not forgotten

Chevelon Creek Bridge is bypassed, but not forgotten

Kathy Cline/ADOT Communications

October 20, 2020

As a new state, Arizona didn't waste time when it came to building bridges. That's certainly the case for Chevelon Creek Bridge in Navajo County, a significant bridge from the state's early history.

The deep, rocky canyon over Chevelon Creek, east of Winslow, cuts across the Colorado Plateau, the broad, relatively flat piece of topography that makes up most of northeast Arizona. And according to a historic bridge inventory for Navajo County, this canyon formed a "practically impassible" topographic barrier to the Santa Fe Highway across northern Arizona.

The Santa Fe Highway was a portion of the longer National Old Trails Highway that entered the state at Lupton and went through to Topock. Despite expectations, the road wasn't called the Santa Fe Highway directly after the city in New Mexico. Rather it got the name because it followed the old Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, commonly just called the Santa Fe Railroad. And, yes, all this was in the age before highways had numbers.

In 1912, the newly-minted Arizona State Legislature set aside $5,500 for construction of a bridge at this difficult spot. The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Works received the contract for the job. The final design was for a poured-in-place concrete slab bridge deck supported by steel girders with concrete curbs and steel latice guardrails.

The contract was awarded in October 1912 and by the next July, after a mere 10 months, it was accepted by the state. The contractor even came in under budget. The Chevelon Creek Bridge then began carrying mainline traffic on the Santa Fe Highway as an important crossing for one of the nation's earliest transcontinental routes.

Unfortunately, the bridge didn't enjoy its major crossing status long. A highway realignment occurred sometime between 1917 and 1924, which shifted the route north of Chevelon Creek's junction with the Little Colorado River, closer to what is Interstate 40 today. After that, the bridge and the road over it reverted to the county.

Today, this remote crossing carries relatively sparse local traffic on McLaws Road. But that doesn't mean the state was done with the bridge yet. In 2013, it was decided the bridge needed to be closed for some much needed renovations. However, it proved to be something of a logistical challenge as the bridge had been originally coated with lead-based paint and ADOT had to abate this environmentally harmful situation.

Once that was taken care of, repairs could get underway in earnest and the bridge reopened in 2014. That's the restored bridge you see in the top photo; the bottom is its appearance right before repairs started.

Despite no longer being part of an important transcontinental road, Chevelon Creek Bridge still holds a place as one of the State of Arizona's first highway structures. It was also the first "pony truss" bridge built by the state that was designed, fabricated and erected by a nationally-important bridge firm. Only the Hereford Bridge in Cochise County exceeds it for both age and span length.

And that makes it something worth remembering.

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