Saturday, July 25, 2026

US-66 and Pipeline Bridges over Colorado River at Topock, AZ

1916 Pipeline/US-66: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)
1890,1947 US-66/Santa Fe: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite, US-66 and this bridge were replaced by I-40.)
Pipeline Triangle: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)
Pipeline Rectangle: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1916 Pipeline/US-66 Bridge


This bridge still exists because it now carries a pipeline. You can see the pipeline come out of the hill on the far side.
Photo by Craig Philpott via BridgeHunter_1916

Postcard via BridgeHunter_1916

Postcard via BridgeHunter_1916

Facebook Reel
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1890,1947 US-66/Santa Fe


"Originally built for ATSF railroad use. In 1947, ATSF built a new bridge for trains, this bridge was converted for highway use, and US Route 66 was rerouted from the Old Trails Arch Bridge to this bridge. In 1966, both US 66 and this bridge were replaced by Interstate 40. The bridge was not dismantled until 1978." [ArchievedBridgeHunter_1890]

Back from its railroad days.
BridgeHunter_1890

Postcard via BridgeHunter_1890

Bridge Hunter calls the design a through cantilevered bridge. I wondered about that because the above images have a center pier. But note that there is no center pier in this image.
BridgeHunter_1890

This is the only other image of the bridge that I saw that did not have the middle pier. So I guess the center pier was added after it was built. Was that part of the 1947 conversion to a highway bridge?
Postcard via BridgeHunter_1890

Pipeline Bridge with Triangular Towers


Note the "arms" that stick out from the base of the towers. They hold additional cables for lateral support.
Street View, Feb 2024

Pipeline Bridge with Rectangular Towers


This bridge hangs the pipeline from two cables that curve inward to provide the lateral stability.
Street View, Feb 2024

US-66 Route


I was surprised that US-66 crossed the Colorado River so farth south of Kingman, AZ, and Needles, CA. So I got these topo maps to study the route between those two cities. But they gave me another surprise.  The bottom map (Needles Quadrant) shows US-66 going North from Topock and then east through the Black Mountains to Kingman. The top map (Kingman Quadrant) shows US-66 going South from Kingman along the Santa Fe, but then it stops when it reaches the Needles Quadrant! I've never seen a road discontinuity like that before in the topo maps.
1954 Kingman and Needles Quads @ 250,000

A US-66 map shows that the Kingman Quadrant is wrong and that US-66 did go through the Black Mountains. I-40 followed the Santa Fe route instead of the US-66 route between Kingman and Topock.
route-66 via Dennis DeBruler

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