How It's Built: The Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado
If you've ever been on a suspension bridge, you probably know that it can be quite a scary experience, especially if you hate heights already. This is because, most of the time, suspension bridges look and feel like they don't have much support. The way they sway, feel loose, and have no middle pillars like most standard bridges can make a lot of people refuse to step foot on this type of bridge. However, this lack of visual support demonstrates and highlights the amount of engineering thought that goes into building them. This is no different from the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, the highest bridge in the United States and one of the most visited attractions in the nation.
Where Is The Royal Gorge Bridge?
Constructed in the Rocky Mountain range, the Royal Gorge Bridge is a suspension bridge and a popular tourist attraction located in Royal Gorge Mountain Park about 20 minutes West of Cañon City, Colorado. It's also about an hour away from Colorado Springs and two hours from Denver, making it a pretty easy day trip from either city.
The Royal Gorge Mountain Park is an amusement park. Within it, other than the bridge, you can also zipline, climb mountains with a Via Ferrata experience, ride gondolas, and do a human-sized swing-type experience with the Royal Rush Skycoaster.
When Was The Royal Gorge Bridge Built?
Construction on the Royal Gorge Bridge first started in June of 1929 and was completed about 5 months later in November. The bridge took about $300,000 to build in 1929. In today's dollars, this is equivalent to just above $4.2 million. While a lot of bridges during this time were built originally to be transportation routes, the Royal Gorge Bridge was always meant to be a tourist attraction.
However, due to wildfire damages that ravaged the entire Royal Gorge Mountain Park in June of 2013, there were a few structural upgrades had to be made to the bridge. As the planks of the bridge are made of wood, 100 of them had to be replaced. A shockingly low number as there are almost 1300 on the bridge in total. Most of the other structures in the park had to be entirely rebuilt, however, as 48 of the park's 52 buildings were destroyed. The park was closed during these repairs and was re-opened in August of 2014.
How Was The Royal Gorge Bridge Built?
The Royal Gorge Bridge was always designed to be a suspension bridge. Like most suspension bridges of this scale, there are two tall towers, one on each side, with cables running between each tower. The process in which these are built is very important.
You must first start with building the towers on each side of the gorge and make sure that the towers are firmly anchored into the gorge. From there, you connect the large cables that look like they're drooping across the bridge from tower to tower. These are the half-inch cables that stretch across opposite sides of the gorge bridge. These cables were then joined at the bottom and pulled back up until they reach the edge of the gorge. Once the cables were all anchored, about 4,200 steel wires were galvanized across the Gorge. In total, about 2,100 cuts of this wire create one massive cable that holds up the bridge and the deck of the bridge. The deck of the bridge is built last.
The anchor points are typically the most critical part of the build as they ensure that the structure is pulled by an opposite force on either side of the bridge, holding the bridge firmly in its position. The depth at which these anchor points are forced into the ground is different depending on the purpose and size of the bridge. These anchor points are typically fanned out into the ground so that if there is ever any pull on them, the fans lock solid and create a strong resistant force.
If you'd like to learn more about how suspension bridges work, we've linked a great video below:
Overall, the bridge is designed to hold over 2 million pounds of weight. From the top of the towers to the bottom of the gorge is about 1,053 feet. From the deck to the river below is approximately 956 feet. The bridge is about 1,260 feet in length and 18 feet wide.
Visiting The Royal Gorge Bridge
In order to visit the bridge, you will need to purchase tickets for the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. It is one of the most popular attractions in Colorado bringing in over 500,000 people a year. Since the bridge was first created, the park has continued to expand as it now features several attractions beyond the bridge as mentioned earlier. While the Royal Gorge Bridge is no longer the world-record holder for the highest bridge in the world, it is still the highest bridge in the United States. As such, it is a great day trip for those local to Colorado, or those passing through.
