Montopolis Bridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Montopolis Bridge |
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The Montopolis Bridge in 2020
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| Carries | Bicycle and pedestrian crossing (formerly  US 183 frontage road) |
| Crosses | Colorado River |
| Locale | Austin, Texas |
| Owner | State of Texas |
| ID number | 142270026501034 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Parker through truss |
| Material | Steel |
| Total length | 1,221 feet (372 m) |
| Width | 24 feet (7.3 m) |
| Longest span | 200 feet (61 m) |
| Number of spans | 9 |
| Clearance above | 19 feet (5.8 m) |
| History | |
| Designer | Texas Highway Department |
| Constructed by | Vincennes Steel Corporation |
| Construction begin | February 15, 1937 |
| Construction cost | $232,000 |
| Opened | February 11, 1938 |
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Montopolis Bridge
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 Location in Texas
Location in the United States
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| Area | less than 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| MPS | Historic Bridges of Texas MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 96001118 |
| Added to NRHP | October 10, 1996 |
The Montopolis Bridge is a historic Parker through truss bridge in Austin, Texas. It is located in the Montopolis neighborhood where a bicycle and pedestrian walkway crosses the Colorado River in southeastern Travis County. The bridge consists of five 200-foot Parker through truss spans and four 52-foot steel I-beam approach spans resting on reinforced concrete abutments. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1996.
History
On June 15, 1935 the city of Austin suffered a devastating flood along the Colorado River. The original Montopolis bridge, built by Travis County in the late 1880s, was one of five bridges washed away by the flood. The Texas Highway Department designed the current bridge and requested federal emergency relief funds from the Bureau of Public Roads to rebuild it. Work on the bridge began on February 15, 1937. The bridge was completed on February 11, 1938 by Vincennes Steel Corporation under contract to the Highway Department at a cost of nearly $232,000 (equivalent to $4,820,000 in 2022).
The Montopolis Bridge remained in use until 2018 and, as one of the principal routes to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport from Downtown Austin, was fairly busy. The southbound frontage of U.S. 183, Airport Boulevard and East 7th Street all merge at the north side of the bridge. In 2006, 29,200 vehicles crossed on average each day. The bridge was decommissioned for vehicular traffic on October 8, 2018, and was subsequently converted to a bicycle and pedestrian bridge as part of the Bergstrom Expressway Project.
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Bridge seen in 2013
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Austin skyline from the bridge
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The Colorado River in the Montopolis area
Images for kids
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Deck during conversion to pedestrian use in 2020
