In 1994, Rainbow Bridge in Texas was listed on the National Register of After years of deliberations, and seven years after original presentation Fort Lonesome Artists Tell Stories One Stitch At A Time, Senate Grants Oklahoman Chuck Norris Honorary Texan Status, In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp, UT System pauses new diversity, equity and inclusion policies at its campuses. This bridge in Comstock, TX, towers 270 ft. over the Pecos River, making it the tallest bridge in Texas and one thrilling ride! It's over a quarter of a football field tall. Frontage roads, a.k.a. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, More Colorful Texas Sayings Than You Can Shake a Stick At, From Camel Herding to Blues Music to Tacos al Pastor: Finding the Middle East in Texas, The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots ONeal, A Texas Professor Has Cured Hiccups, Folks, Talk Like a Texan: The Story Behind the Houstonian Feeder Road. . The Pecos River empties out into the giant Rio Grande River. Memorial Bridge that was built in 1990 just a few dozen yards to the side You just have to have faith that the pavement will be there waiting for you when you pass over the hump. In 1892, it held the distinction of being not only the highest bridge in the United States, but also, at 322 feet 10 3/4 inches in height, the third highest bridge in the world. The tallest ship in the Navy never did cruise beneath the Rainbow Bridge. And where two or more roads meet, something has to be done, lest disaster ensue. Due to concerns by the upstream city of Beaumont about the bridge posing a threat to ship navigation, the Rainbow Bridge was built with a 680-foot (210 m) main span. All Rights Reserved. A native Texan and 35-year TxDot veteran, Hale kindly explained to the Texanist that highways are not just plopped down right at ground level because the number of conflicts between roadways crossing each other increases as traffic increases and the backups and the resulting cost of delays reach a point where it is more cost efficient and safe to grade separate the two roadways with an overpass. Which is to say: there are just too many Texans (and occasional Iowans) driving in Texas for us to do without overpasses that helpfully lift us up and out of the way of one another. For many decades, drivers had to put up with two thin lanes carrying cars and 18-wheelers in both directions. It is said that she used to sit up there high above the moonlit waters of the Neches River and sing in her passionately raw style. And it rises frighteningly high over thewater. TxDOT was able to speed up some work in the area during the early days of the pandemic shutdown, and now one of the tallest ramps in the project is almost complete. Just another reason to be careful on the roads! They found a trail within a mile of the present-day bridge. Hale, whose favorite drive is along FM 118 from I-10 to Alpine, acknowledged that. that is still enough to enable ships and oil drilling platforms created at The Texas-style stack, as it is known, brings to mind an extra-tall pile of pancakes, but is actually more like a gargantuan spaghetti bowl of overpasses and underpasses that involves a whopping five separate levels of roads and ramps and bridges. The spot is completely free to visit any day of the year. Rainbow Bridge (Port Arthur, TX) westbound roadwaywiz 18.3K subscribers Subscribe 67K views 4 years ago Built in 1938, this bridge along TX 73 is one of the tallest in the state of Texas.. Built across the Pecos River Canyon near Langtry Texas. We strongly advise that before you go swimming or visit any location, you check the most recent updates on potential hazards, security, water quality, and closures. Texas Historical Commission. their tops. renamed into its current name. Why not just build highways on the ground? Young Christy McClintock won The highest ramps are 100 feet (30m) above ground. Texas staff writer for Only in Your State, blogger for Power of Positivity, and freelance health, wellness, and travel writer. As you arrived near the top of the bridge, all you could see was sky in the daytime and the stars at night. With seventy-two rigs built, the shipyard was one of the major sources of offshore rigs built in the United States.[3]. [Pecos High River Bridge], photograph, Date Unknown, University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History; crediting Texas Historical Commission. TxDOT as the managing agency, Zachry Construction Corporation as the primary contractor, and HNTB Corporation as the primary consultant received the award in recognition of their cooperative alliance in completing the project. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. The Rainbow Bridge is a through truss bridge crossing the Neches River in Southeast Texas just upstream from Sabine Lake. [14] Also built into the construction contract was a provision that Zachry be charged for "lane rentals" by TxDOT for time they closed down traffic lanesfees based on hourly assessments and the time of day the lane was closed. [13], Reasons for upgrading the interchange, in addition to the need to increase traffic flow and reduce congestion, were to improve air quality, safety, and local access. few dozen yards adjacent to it. After the opening of the Rainbow Bridge in 1997, Veterans Memorial Bridge The leader of the bridge construction was state engineer G.G. It rises to a height of a 20-story building and clears the river by 177 feet. Bridges are measured in three ways, for those who like to keep world records and such: longest, tallest and highest. Several refurbishments and renovations did As a part of the State Highway 87 and State Highway 73, it effortlessly connects the city of Port Arthur in Jefferson County with the Bridge City in Orange County. This bridge was built in just eighty-seven working days between November 1891 and February 1892 by the Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. bridge that would reduce the load of traffic across the old Rainbow Bridge Its main span is elevated 43.5 meters above the waters of Neches River, but Some of those five-stack interchanges in Dallas and Houston can cause a palpitation or two. Congratulations on your keen eye, Mr. Dunn. For a time, it was the second-highest in all of America! Hover your mouse over a dot to see details about a particular bridge. Love Texas? However, this name would be retained for a bit less than two decades. Hale further explained to the Texanist that this has to do with the fact that Texass interstate system, unlike virtually every other interstate system, typically includes frontage roads. The It allows State Highway 87 and State Highway 73 to connect Port Arthur in Jefferson County on the southwest bank of the river. For most of its 900-mile course the Pecos parallels the Rio Grande, but in Val Verde County it angles across the county to the mouth of the Rio Grande in the Amistad Reservoir. All Rights Reserved. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Hale, whose favorite drive is along FM 118 from I-10 to Alpine, acknowledged that Texass overpasses are indeed particularly tall compared to those in the rest of the country. Highway 87 and State Highway 73, it effortlessly connects the city of Port the ribbon by Mary Elizabeth Mills, daughter of H.O. Construction began on the new bridge downstream from the 1892 version in August of 1943. I designed and signed and sealed the lighting drawings at IH 10 @ the GP and reviewed and approved the ones at US 290 @ the GP. Rainbow Bridge Texas -Tallest Bridge in Texas. Janis Joplin? The Pecos has figured in many tall tales over the years. Q: I recently drove down from Iowa to see my daughter in Austin, and during my visit I couldnt understand why Texas has so many highway overpasses and why they were built so insanely high off the ground. You might often find rock climbers there all testing their abilities. Photo by J.C. Watkins. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has several five-level stacks, most notably the High Five Interchange between US 75 and I-635; completed in 2005 and currently the tallest interchange in the world. The current Pecos River Bridge is the highest highway bridge in Texas, at 1,310 feet long and originally 273 feet above the water (a measurement that now fluctuates with the rise and fall of Lake Amistad water levels). large ships and sea platforms, including aircraft carriers and offshore oil That said, he is not unaware that Texas has some pretty remarkable high-flying flyovers. 680-foot (210 m) and water clearance of 177 feet (enough to enable passage The bridge offers the triple threat. The project includes building a brand new interchange between SH-288 and the South Beltway, with enormous fly-overs that will connect those two thoroughfares. It is the junction of two major highways carrying heavy rush-hour traffic, the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (Interstate 635) and the Central Expressway (US 75), and is the first five-level stack interchange to be built in the city. under 3 years between 1936 and 1938 out of concrete and steel and utilizing too fast to the surface. them. Arthur in Jefferson County with the Bridge City in Orange County. It was a collaborative project between the TxDOT, affected motorists and property owners, and the primary contractor, Zachry Construction. Tallest Bridge in Texas KatThomas 121 subscribers Subscribe 450 Share 93K views 5 years ago Rainbow Bridge from Bridge City to Port Arthur Texas under construction 2016. All of the right-bound [5], After the completion of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge was closed for renovations. The famous bridge was built in 1892 and is the second tallest in the United States at 322 feet. City could look much different after I-45 moves. Many citizens from Port Arthur Does Texas Spend A Third Of Its Budget On Medicaid? The bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 1909 and 1910 the structure was reinforced and shortened in length to 1,516 feet. effort, and the majority of the deaths happened due to the Bends - a additional renovations so that it could better accompany nearby Veterans The High Five Interchange is one of the first five-level stack interchanges built in Dallas, Texas. [12], The High Five Interchange project was planned as a replacement for the existing antiquated interchange, which accommodated 500,000 vehicles daily and was located in one of the most intensely developed commercial zones in Dallas. Hes always availablehere. Today, Katie writes for the Texas and Arizona pages of OnlyInYourState.com and has never been more passionate about a job before. of the bridge-building plans, the two communities agreed on the bridge that The first official large refurbishment of the bridge happened in 1992 when [4] With a vertical clearance of 143 feet (44m), the bridge is somewhat shorter than its neighbor. Corpus Christi's skyline is in the early stages of a metamorphosis. started during February of 1936 with the building of the access roads that As you arrive near the top of the bridge, all you can see is sky in the daytime and the stars at night. would enable easy transport of all the needed materials near the work We made a trip to Lockhart and on the way home we connected from Texas 130 to Texas 45 on an overpass in the middle of nowhere that seemed to be nearly 100 feet tall. Pecos River is located in Comstock, Texas. The Texanist: Can a Really Hot Pepper Burn the Tongue Right Out of My Mouth? 2022 Authentic Texas Magazine. A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin | Contact us, A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Draws Condemnation, But The International Response Is Unclear, Ted Poe Says The Freedom Caucus Needs To Focus On Passing Legislation, South Padre Residents Want To Make Spring Break More Family-Friendly, Why Texas Was One Big Reason The U.S. In 1892 the bridge was moved five miles northward upstream, shortening the rail distance by eleven miles on the route between San Antonio and El Paso. Beautiful views. Rainbow Bridge State Hwy 87, Port Arthur, TX 77642 Directions Completed in 1938, the Rainbow Bridge is the tallest bridge on the Gulf Coast. In fact, among all the aforementioned types of highway interchanges, there is one variation that the Texanist finds to be a particular standout. Built in The 50th anniversary of the construction of the Rainbow Bridge was held on Before it was dismantled in the mid-1900s, the Pecos High Bridge stood at an impressive height of 322 feet. After being open to the public in late 1938, the bridge remained in This commonly adds up to a 125-foot overpasseven higher than your awestruck guesstimate of nearly 100 feet tall. The five-level stack, Hale said, was first built in Texas, which is why they are known the world over as Texas-style stacks.

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