The First Avenue Bridge is a historic structure located in downtown

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

, United States. It carries

U.S. Route 151 U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. The southern terminus for US 151 is at a junction with Interstate 80 (I-80) in Iowa County, Iowa, and its northern terminu ...

for over the Cedar River. with The original six-span concrete arch structure was completed in 1920 for $420,000. It was designed by

Marsh Engineering Company The Marsh Engineering Company was a company that designed many significant bridges in the United States, including a number that survive and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was located at 206 Masonic Temple in Des Moin ...

and built by Koss Construction Co., both of

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

. Consulting engineer Ned L. Ashton of

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

designed the 1960s remodel. He had all of the concrete work above the original arches torn out and the bridge rebuilt as an

open-spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

structure. The rebuild also included a wider deck to accommodate increased traffic and aluminum railings. While the bridge's original structural integrity has been compromised, this is the first notable concrete spandrel arch reconstruction in

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

and possibly in the country. The bridge was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1998.

References

Bridges completed in 1920 Buildings and structures in Cedar Rapids, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Bridges in Linn County, Iowa Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System U.S. Route 51 1920 establishments in Iowa Concrete bridges in the United States Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States {{Iowa-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References