Red Rock Bridge
| Red Rock Bridge | |
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Bridge nearly complete in 1890
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| Coordinates | Coordinates: 34°43′05″N 114°29′16″W / 34.71817°N 114.48767°W |
| Carries | Railroad, Automobile |
| Crosses | Colorado River |
| Locale | Arizona, California |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever, Truss |
| Material | Steel |
| Total length | 990 feet (300 m) |
| Clearance below | 41 feet (12 m) |
| History | |
| Designer | John Alexander Low Waddell |
| Constructed by | Phoenix Bridge Company |
| Construction start | 1890 |
| Construction end | 1890 |
| Construction cost | $500,000 |
| Closed | 1966 |
 Red Rock Bridge
Location within Mohave County
Red Rock Bridge
Location within Mohave County
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The Red Rock Bridge was a bridge across the Colorado River at Topock, Arizona that carried the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. It was built in 1890, replacing a wooden bridge dating to 1883 that was repeatedly washed out during spring flooding. It was used by the railroad until 1945 when a new bridge was built. The Red Rock Bridge was then converted to carry the automobile traffic of U.S. Route 66, and did so from 1947 until 1966 when Route 66 was replaced by Interstate 40. The bridge was abandoned and eventually dismantled in 1976.
In 1880, the Atlantic & Pacific railroad's Western division began construction of a line from Isleta, New Mexico, heading west to meet the Southern Pacific at Needles, California, on the western bank of the Colorado just north of Topock. The Southern Pacific was simultaneously building eastward from Mohave, California, to Needles. The line reached Kingman, Arizona, in 1882. The first bridge across the Colorado, made entirely of wood, was completed in May 1883 and the two railroads met in Needles August 9 of that year. This crossing was at Eastbridge, Arizona, three miles south of Needles. The bridge was over 1,600 feet (490 m) long and was built on pilings driven into the alluvial soils of the flood plain of the Mohave Valley. The site had no solid base on either bank.
The wooden bridge was washed away in 1884, rebuilt and again destroyed in 1886, and again in 1888. This led the railroad to seek a better bridge that could withstand the strong spring currents of the Colorado when it carried the winter snow melt. A new crossing was located about 10 miles (16 km) farther south at Topock, Arizona where the bridge could be built on rock foundations.
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