Red Cliff Bridge

Red Cliff Bridge
Coordinates
Carries	US 24
Crosses	Eagle River
Locale	Red Cliff, Colorado
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
Total length
Width	29.8 ft (9.1 m)
Longest span	317.8 ft (96.9 m)
History
Construction begin	1939
Construction end	1940
Construction cost	$218,817
Opened	1941

Red Cliff Bridge (also known as the Eagle River Bridge) (to locals it is known as the "Silver Bridge" for it was originally painted silver) is an arch bridge near Red Cliff, Colorado that carries U.S. Highway 24 over the Eagle River and the former Union Pacific Railroad track over Tennessee Pass. It is one of only two steel arch bridges within the entire state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (reference number 85000204).

The bridge was designed by King Burghardt and built in 1940. Construction was difficult, with workers starting with a cantilevered design, sometimes in sub-freezing (below 32 °F/ 0 °C) temperatures hanging over a 200 foot (61 m) drop. Burghardt wrote in his journal, "In the morning, each gang was lifted to its scaffold on a platform hung from the high line. They took their lunches with them and spent the entire day in the air with the winter wind continually blowing up the canyon." The steel erection superintendent for the project was Earl "Doc" Lay of Minneapolis Steel Company. Cliff Prince was the operator of the highline hoisting system. Off and on, Prince was a law student at the University of Utah. C.P. "Chick" Lay and Ray Walton Sr. were Ironworkers on the project from Union Local 27 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nels Neilson was the timekeeper for the job. N.P. Mettome was the Western Regional V.P. for Minneapolis Steel at the time.

Over the years, the bridge's condition deteriorated, necessitating restoration work, which was completed in November 2004 at a cost of $3.6 million, with approximately half of that coming from the Federal Highway Administration. The bridge deck was replaced and widened and much of the steel was repainted. However, because of the bridge's historic status, care was taken to maintain the visual aesthetic. The rehabilitation effort won the 2005 National Steel Bridge Alliance Prize Bridge Award for Reconstructed Bridge.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Eagle County, Colorado