Texas’ Top Twenty Trestles for the Roads Scholar

[ColGoodnight]

Boy, every time I go back and look at this post...

9. Name: Devil’s Canyon
Location: US90 over the Pecos River, Val Verde County
Type and date: Deck Cantilever, 1959[/b]

No, no, no, Devil's Canyon is one canyon east of this bridge over the Pecos. AFAIK, the bridge is just the "Pecos River bridge".

Tom

 

[Tourmeister]

Seminole Canyon is the canyon just East of the Pecos River. I can't find Devil's Canyon anywhere in the area There is the Devil's River North of Comstock on Hwy 163 which eventually feeds into the Amistad Reservoir.

 

[old paul]

Dang, Tom, I did your Denton County tour on a whim one afternoon. This one's going to take some planning. Thanks for the post.
If you're anywhere near Plano, come join us for Thursday night coffee. You'll feel right at home.

 

[Teeds]

Did I ever post the waypoint file?

I can't see where I did.

If you have a Garmin GPS, load it up and explore.

Tom: In many ways your "ride" looks more in keeping with the surroundings than mine. I like simple, but I prefer dirt roads. Maybe my TTR could be made into a DS machine.

 

[ColGoodnight]

17. Name: Bullman
Location: CO301 over the Leon River, Hamilton County
Type and date: Bowstring arch, 1884
Early Texas communities built small wooden bridges that were washed away in floods. After the industrial revolution took hold late in the 19th century, longer, sturdier steel bridges could be ordered from bridge factories and shipped to Texas by rail. A few still stand, and the Bullman Bowstring is one of the most beautiful. Note: Access is on gravel roads.

I dropped by to visit my old friend today. I'm sorry to say that the graceful, historic 123 year old Bullman Bowstring is no more. It has been replaced with a brand new, A+ structure rated, low cost, absolutely generic concrete beam bridge.

Scoot safe,
Tom

 

[richardb austin]

Here's #19, the Regency Suspension Bridge

 

[Bear on a bicycle]

...

15. Name: Percy V. Pennybacker
Location: Loop 360 over Town Lake, Travis County
Type and date: Steel Arch, 1982
After several decades in exile, bridge aesthetics made a triumphant return to Texas in the award winning Pennybacker. As a benefit of its good looks, it is quite dramatic to cross on a motorcycle. The designers were said to have chosen a steel alloy that would weather into a UT burnt orange – I don’t want to get anything started, but in certain lights it looks more maroon to me.



I wrote it - now help your fellow TWTs out with some illustrations! Pictures of you and your bike at these bridges, please! How long will it take to post ride photographs of all twenty bridges?

#15...

 

[ColGoodnight]

5. Name: Upper Harbor
Location: Navigation Blvd. over Tule Lake Channel, Nueces County
Type and date: Vertical lift, 1959
A great many of the historic drawbridges in the state have been replaced with “high” bridges rising above the ship traffic. The most impressive drawbridge ever build in the state is still in service, though. At the command of the bridge operators, the Navigation Blvd. Bridge lifts the road deck 138 feet. After riding across, be sure to stick around to watch it do some heavy lifting!

It's a big state and it'd been a while since I made it down to Corpus. The Upper Harbor lift bridge began to have operational problems in 2007 and was demolished and removed in early 2008. All that's on Navigation Blvd. now is a "Bridge Out" sign.

Man, you gotta get out & about and see these things before they're gone.

Tom

Fun fact: The Upper Harbor lift bridge was a combined road and rail bridge.