Navajo Bridge

{{Infobox Bridge

| bridge_name = Navajo Bridge

| image = Navajo Bridge (May 2006).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Looking east, with 1929 bridge at left, 1995 bridge at right, and the Echo Cliffs in the background,
May 2006

| alt =

| coordinates = {{coord|36|49|04|N|111|37|54|W|region:US_type:landmark_source:GNIS|display=inline,title}}

| carries = {{jct|state=AZ|US|89A}} 2nd only

| crosses= Colorado River at Marble Canyon

| locale = Marble Canyon, Arizona and Lees Ferry

| official_name = Upstream bridge: Historic Navajo Bridge, Structure No. 51 Downstream Bridge: Navajo Bridge, Structure No. 2340

| other_name = {{ubl| Grand Canyon Bridge | Lees Ferry Bridge | Hamblin-Hastele Bridge | Colorado River Bridge }}

| named_for = Navajo people

| owner = Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT)

| maint = ADOT

| heritage = National Register of Historic Places 1st only

| id = AZ00051 1st
AZ02340 2nd

| preceded = Glen Canyon Dam Bridge

| followed = Hoover Dam

| design = open-spandrel arch bridge with {{convert|90|ft}} rise (both)

| material = steel

| length = {{convert|834|ft|m}} 1st
{{convert| 909|ft|m}} 2nd

| width = {{convert|18|ft|m}} 1st
{{convert|44|ft|m}} 2nd

| height = {{convert|476|ft|m}}

| mainspan = {{convert|616|ft|m}} 1st
{{convert|726|ft|m}} 2nd

| spans = 1 (each bridge)

| pierswater = 0

| load = {{convert|22.5|ST|t}} 1st

| clearance_below = {{convert|467|ft|m}} 1st
{{convert|470|ft|m}} 2nd

| architect =

| designer =

| builder =

| begin = June 1927 (1st)
May 1993 (2nd)

| complete = 1929 (1st)
1995 (2nd)

| open = January 12, 1929 (1st)
May 2, 1995 (2nd)

| cost = $US 390,000 1st (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|.39|1929

|fmt=c|r=1}} million in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} dollars)
$US 14.7 million 2nd

| traffic =

| embedded =

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Navajo Steel Arch Highway Bridge

| embed = yes

| nrhp_type =

| image = Navajo Bridge, Coconino County, AZ, US.jpg

| caption = The 1929, NRHP listed bridge, October 2018

| nearest_city = Page

| coordinates = {{coord|36|49|2|N|111|37|53|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline}}

| area =

| built = 1929

| architect = Arizona Highway Department

| architecture =

| added = August 13, 1981

| mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64500050|title=Vehicular Bridges in Arizona MPS}}

| refnum = 81000134{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

Navajo Bridge is the name of twin steel spandrel arch bridges that cross the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon National Park{{refn|group="Note"|While the Navajo Bridges are officially located in the Grand Canyon National Park, the actual location is a little more complicated. The southeast approach to the bridges is located within the Navajo Nation, which was originally established in 1868 and had its boundaries extended west to the east rim of Marble Canyon prior to the construction of the first bridge in 1928. The northwest approach to the bridges is located within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, having been established in 1972 (well after the construction of the first bridge, but a few decades prior to the construction of the second).
The bridges themselves span Marble Canyon. In 1965 the Marble Canyon National Monument was established and included the section of the Colorado River between the canyon rims from the (then) northeastern boundary of the Grand Canyon National Park (which was established in 1919) to Lees Ferry.{{cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-3889-establishing-marble-canyon-national-monument-arizona|title=The American Presidency Project: Proclamation 3889 – Establishing Marble Canyon National Monument, Arizona|website=presidency.ucsb.edu|publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara|date=January 20, 1969|access-date=May 22, 2020}} However, in 1975, the entirety of the Marble Canyon National Monument was added to the Grand Canyon National Park.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2009/01/pruning-parks-whatever-became-marble-canyon-national-monument-1969-19753395|title=Pruning the Parks: Whatever Became of Marble Canyon National Monument (1969–1975)?|last=Repanshek|first=Kurt|website=nationalparkstraveler.org|publisher=National Parks Traveler|location=Park City, Utah|date=January 2, 2010|access-date=May 22, 2020}}}} (near Lees Ferry) in northern Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The newer of the two spans carries vehicular traffic on U.S. Route 89A (US 89A) over Marble Canyon between Bitter Springs and Jacob Lake, allowing travel into a remote Arizona Strip region north of the Colorado River including the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Prior to completion of the first Navajo Bridge, one of the only Colorado River crossings between Arizona and Utah was located about {{convert|5|mi|km}} upstream from the bridge site, at the mouth of Glen Canyon where Lees Ferry service had operated since 1873. The ferry site had been chosen as the only relatively easy access to the river for both northbound and southbound travelers. By the 1920s, automobile traffic began using the ferry, though it was not considered a safe and reliable crossing due to adverse weather and flooding regularly preventing its operation.

The bridge was officially named the Grand Canyon Bridge when it was dedicated on June 14–15, 1929. The state legislature changed the name to Navajo Bridge five years later in 1934. The original bridge was closed to vehicular traffic after the new span opened in 1995. The old span is still open for pedestrian and equestrian use.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/glca/learn/historyculture/navajobridge.htm|title=Navajo Bridge|website=nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=May 18, 2020}}

The dual spans of Navajo Bridge are tied at ninth place among the highest bridges in the United States with nearly identical heights of {{convert|467|ft|1}} for the original span, and {{convert|470|ft|1}} for the second span.

History

File:Navajo Bridge Aerial.JPG

Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. The bridge was paid for by the nascent Arizona State Highway Commission (now the Arizona Department of Transportation) in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the eastern landing is on the Navajo Nation. The steel spandrel bridge was designed and constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. During construction, worker Lane McDaniels died after falling {{convert|467|ft|m}} to the Colorado River below. Supervisors had rejected the idea of rigging safety netting, believing that it would catch on fire from falling hot rivets.{{cite book |title=Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon |year=2001 |isbn=0-9700973-0-1 |page=25 |last1=Ghiglieri |first1=Michael P. |edition=First Edition, sixth printing, first revision |last2=Myers |first2=Thomas M. |quote=Months later, on June 12, 1928, Lane McDaniels, age 42, was working on the partially constructed Navajo Bridge at River Mile 4. Despite this being the tallest steel bridge in the world at the time, the supervisors vetoed rigging safety netting under the bridge because they were sure that hot rivets dropping by accident might ignite it. McDaniels, unfortunately, missed his footing on a scaffold. He fell. And there being no net, he plummeted about 470 feet into the Colorado River. His fellow workers stared down in horror. They said that, upon impact, McDaniels' body seemed to "burst and flatten out" on the surface of the water. Four steelworkers quit after McDaniels death, not from fear of falling, but from the dismal prospect of being swallowed up by the turbulent waters of the Colorado if they did fall, with no hope that their bodies would ever be recovered.}}Lafe McDaniel Death Certificate as per the State of Arizona Vital Statistics https://genealogyapp.azdhs.gov/Genealogy/Home/GetGenealogyimage?id=252909

The original bridge is {{convert|834|ft|m}} in length, with a maximum height of {{convert|467|ft|m}} from the canyon floor. The roadway offers an {{convert|18|ft|m|adj=on}} surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). During the design phase, a wider roadway was considered, but ultimately rejected, as it would have required a costly third arch to be added to the design, and the vehicles of the time did not require a wider road. When the Bridge officially opened on January 12, 1929, the Flagstaff paper proclaimed it "the biggest news in Southwest history."{{cite web |last1=Gulliford |first1=Andrew |title=Up in the air, a living memorial |url=https://www.hcn.org/wotr/up-in-the-air-a-living-memorial |website=High Country News |date=June 4, 2010 |access-date=22 September 2020}}

By 1984, however, Arizona Department of Transportation officials decided that the traffic flow was too great for the original bridge and that a new solution was needed. The sharp corners in the roadway on each side of the approach had become a safety hazard due to low visibility, and deficiencies resulting from the original design's width and load capacity specifications were becoming problematic. The bridge had also become part of US 89A.“Highway Improvement Plans Are Announced,” Arizona Daily Sun, August 14, 1984

File:Passing Navajo bridge.jpg from the Colorado River, September 2009]]

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 debris entering the river. The original proposal called for merely widening and fortifying the 1928 bridge, but this was ultimately rejected as not sufficient to meet contemporary federal highway standards. Replacement became the only option, and it was eventually decided to entirely discontinue vehicular traffic on the original bridge. A new bridge would be built immediately next to the original and have a considerably similar visual appearance, but would conform to modern highway codes.

The new steel arch bridge was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and was completed in May 1995, at a cost of $14.7 million. A formal dedication was held on September 14, 1995.

The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed on the west side to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 13, 1981.

California condors were reintroduced to the area in 1996 and can sometimes be seen on and around Navajo Bridge.{{cite web |title=Glen Canyon |url=https://www.nps.gov/glca/learn/nature/condors.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=22 September 2020}}

Bridge characteristics

=Original bridge (1929)=

{{stack|File:2016-03-20 14 22 43 Plaque dedicating the original Navajo Bridge (former U.S. Route 89A) in Marble Canyon, Arizona.jpg}}

Construction started June 30, 1927

Bridge opened to traffic January 12, 1929

Total length: {{convert|834|ft|m}}

Steel arch length: {{convert|616|ft|m}}

Arch rise: {{convert|90|ft|m}}

Height above river: {{convert|467|ft|m}}

Width of the roadway: {{convert|18|ft}}

Amount of steel: {{convert|2400000|lb}}

Amount of concrete: {{convert|500|cuyd|0}}

Amount of steel reinforcement: {{convert|82000|lb}}

Construction cost: $390,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.39|1929|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}})

=New bridge (1995)=

{{stack|File:Car Crossing the Navajo Bridge (Route Alt 89) (3454882454).jpg), April 2009]]}}

Total length: {{convert|909|ft}}

Steel arch length: {{convert|726|ft}}

Arch rise: {{convert|90|ft}}

Height above river: {{convert|470|ft|0}}

Width of the roadway: {{convert|44|ft}}

Amount of steel: {{convert|3900000|lb}}

Amount of concrete: {{convert|1790|cuyd}}

Amount of steel reinforcement: {{convert|434000|lb}}

Construction cost $14.7 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|14.7|1995|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}})

Notes

References

External links

[https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/eihd/navajo.cfm Excellence in Highway Design: Navajo Bridge] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161207073843/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/eihd/navajo.cfm archive])
{{HAER |survey=AZ-28 |id=az0251 |title=Navajo Bridge, Spanning Colorado River at U.S. Highway 89 Alternate, Page vicinity, Coconino County, AZ}}
[https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/navajo-bridge American Society of Civil Engineers – Navajo Bridge] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161207073548/http://www.asce.org/project/navajo-bridge/ archive])
{{Structurae|id=20001394|title=Navajo Arch Bridge (original)}}
{{Structurae|id=20004520|title=Navajo Bridge (new)}} (note: year of completion is listed incorrectly as 1997)
[https://bridgehunter.com/az/coconino/navajo/ 85 photos from the construction of Grand Canyon/Navajo bridge]
{{GNIS|type=retired|8528}}

{{Crossings navbox

| structure = Crossings

| place = Colorado River

| bridge = Navajo Bridge

| bridge signs = {{jct|state=AZ|US|89A}}

| upstream = Glen Canyon Dam Bridge

| upstream signs={{jct|state=AZ|US|89}}

| downstream = Hoover Dam

| downstream signs =

}}

Category:Bridges over the Colorado River

Category:Buildings and structures in Coconino County, Arizona