Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 21; Former US Route 89 over the Cameron Suspension Bridge

After making a turn onto US Route 89 southbound from the western terminus of US 160 I made may way through the Navajo Nation towards the Little Colorado River.  While modern US 89 is aligned over a four-lane span across the Little Colorado River it's original alignment just lies west on the Cameron Suspension Bridge.


This article is the 21st entry in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series.  Part 20 regarding US Route 160 in Arizona can be found at the link below:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 20; US Route 160 in Arizona

Note; while I did visit the Cameron Suspension Bridge in 2016 I felt that I took better pictures in 2015.  Therefore I will be using my 2015 Cameron Suspension Bridge photos below.   

The Cameron Suspension Bridge is sometimes referred to the as the "Tanner's Crossing Bridge."  The Cameron Suspension Bridge was completed in 1911 and spans the Little Colorado River at a length of 660 feet.  The Cameron Suspension Bridge was constructed by the Midland Bridge Company and is an identical design to the 1916 Dewey Bridge over the Colorado River in Utah.  The Dewey Bridge unlike the Cameron Suspension Bridge is in ruins and is 503.2 feet in length.

The 2016 Cameron Bridge today carries a pipeline across the Little Colorado River.  Modern day Cameron was founded as a trade post in 1913 but formerly was the location of Tanner's Crossing.  Tanner's Crossing carried ferries over the Little Colorado River on a Mormon Emigrant Trail.  The Little Colorado River was a huge obstruction to travel in Northern Arizona close in scale to the Colorado River crossing at Lee's Ferry near the Vermillion Cliffs.  The 1911 Cameron Suspension Bridge upon completion made travel in the northern frontier much easier to traverse.


Despite being a major river crossing the Cameron Suspension Bridge appears to never have been part of a Auto Trail.   No Auto Trails are displayed over the Cameron Suspension Bridge on the Rand McNally Four Corners Region Highway Map in 1924.


US Route 89 was selected during late 1926 to be aligned over the Little Colorado River via the Cameron Suspension Bridge.  Early US 89 in Northern Arizona still had to use Lee's Ferry to cross the Colorado River until the original Navajo Bridge was completed in 1929.  US 89 over the Cameron Suspension Bridge can be first seen on the 1927 Rand McNally Arizona/New Mexico Highway Map.


The Cameron Suspension Bridge was replaced in 1959 when much of the original alignment of US 89 in the Navajo Nation was being realigned.  The Cameron Suspension Bridge can easily be found on the south cliff-face of the Little Colorado River behind the Cameron Trading Post.






From the Cameron Suspension Bridge I made a turn westward from US 89 onto AZ 64 towards Grand Canyon National Park.


Part 22 of the 2016 Fall Mountain Series can be found below:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 22; Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona State Route 64, and the weird west terminus of US Route 180

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...