Montopolis Bridge
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Montopolis Bridge | |
 The Montopolis Bridge in 2013 | |
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| Location | US 183, 8.1 mi. S of jct. with I-35, Austin, Texas |
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| Coordinates | 30°14′44″N 97°41′29″W / 30.24556°N 97.69139°WCoordinates: 30°14′44″N 97°41′29″W / 30.24556°N 97.69139°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1938 |
| Built by | Vincennes Steel Corporation |
| Architect | Texas Highway Department |
| Architectural style | Parker through truss, Other |
| MPS | Historic Bridges of Texas MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 96001118[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 10, 1996 |
The Montopolis Bridge is a historic Parker through truss bridge in Austin, Texas. It is located in the neighborhood of Montopolis where the southbound frontage road of U.S. Route 183 crosses the Colorado River in southeastern Travis County. 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 Texas Highway Department at a cost of nearly $232,000.[2] The Montopolis Bridge consists of five 200-foot Parker through truss spans and four 52-foot steel I-beam approach spans resting on reinforced concrete abutments.
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.[3]
The Montopolis Bridge remains in use and, as one of the principal routes to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport from Downtown Austin, is 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 added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1996.[4]
The bridge is to be decommissioned for vehicular traffic and converted to a bicycle and pedestrian bridge by 2020 as part of the Bergstrom Expressway Project that broke ground on April 6, 2016.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Montopolis Bridge". Find the Data. Retrieved Nov 23, 2011.
- ↑ Montoplis Bridge. Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission.
- ↑ "Montopolis Bridge". Bridgehunter.com. Retrieved Nov 24, 2011.
- ↑ Dugan, Amanda, "Montopolis Bridge will be outfitted with bike, pedestrian lanes". KXAN.com. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
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