Montopolis Bridge

Historic bridge in Austin, Texas

Montopolis Bridge

Viewed from the north in 2013

Coordinates| 30°14′44″N 97°41′29″W﻿ / ﻿30.24542°N 97.69136°W﻿ / 30.24542; -97.69136
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)
No. of spans| 9
Clearance above| 19 feet (5.8 m)
No. of lanes| 2
History
Designer| Texas Highway Department
Constructed by| Vincennes Steel Corporation
Construction start| February 15, 1937
Construction cost| $232,000
Opened| February 11, 1938 (1938-02-11)

Montopolis Bridge

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

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Coordinates| 30°14′44″N 97°41′29″W﻿ / ﻿30.24556°N 97.69139°W﻿ / 30.24556; -97.69139
Area| less than 1 acre (0.40 ha)
MPS| Historic Bridges of Texas MPS
NRHP reference No.| 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 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.[2] The Montopolis Bridge sits at the best crossing of the Colorado River in the area with the historic crossing of the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail just to the east.[3]

## History

[edit]

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.[4] 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 $5,180,000 in 2024).[5]

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,[6] and was subsequently converted to a bicycle and pedestrian bridge as part of the Bergstrom Expressway Project.[7]

* Deck during conversion to pedestrian use in 2020

* Austin skyline from the bridge

* The Colorado River in the Montopolis area

## See also

[edit]

* List of crossings of the Colorado River
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Travis County, Texas
* List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. ^ "Montopolis Bridge". Bridgehunter.com. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
3. ^ "Montopolis Bridge". nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
4. ^ Montopolis Bridge. Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission.
5. ^ "Montopolis Bridge". Find the Data. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
6. ^ "Major Activity - 183 South". Archived from the original on October 14, 2018.
7. ^ Huber, Mary (October 16, 2019). "Montopolis Bridge in East Austin gets facelift before opening for hike-and-bike trail". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 14, 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Montopolis Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

Crossings of the Colorado River

| Upstream
Longhorn Dam
| Montopolis Bridge
| Downstream
Anderson Expressway Bridge

|
|

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City of Austin

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| Closed|

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recreation|

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| Public|

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|

Freeways|

* MoPac Expressway
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Streets|

* Congress Avenue
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Bridges|

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National Register of Historic Places in Austin, Texas

Archaeological|

* Andrew M. Cox Ranch Site
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Business|

* Arnold Bakery
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Civic|

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Districts|

* Bremond Block Historic District
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* Old West Austin Historic District
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* Shadow Lawn Historic District
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* Swedish Hill Historic District
* Travis Heights-Fairview Park Historic District
* West Line Historic District
* Willow–Spence Streets Historic District

Private|

* Aynesworth–Wright House
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* Roberts Clinic
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* Wahrenberger House
* Woodlawn
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* Worrell–Ettlinger House
* Ziller House

Recreational|

* Barton Springs
* Deep Eddy Pool
* Lions Municipal Golf Course
* Mount Bonnell
* Wooldridge Park
* Zilker Park

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