Devil's Canyon Bridge
National Register of Historic Places

Devil's Canyon Bridge

Superior, Pinal County, Arizona
Listed
September 29, 1988
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
88001681

About this property

The Devil's Canyon Bridge (located in Pinal County, Arizona) was built in 1921 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It is an historic abandoned section of U.S. Route 60 over Devil's Canyon. Described as a medium-span, filled-spandrel arch, with a moderate arch barrel rise, a roadway which cantilevered over the arches on both sides, a corbeled arch ring and paneled concrete parapets with steel pipe guardrails. Under the supervision of AHD Resident Engineer H.B. Wright, a force account labor crew constructed the Devil's Canyon Bridge in 1921–22 for a total cost of $23,780. It carried traffic until its replacement in 1941. The Devil's Canyon Bridge now stands abandoned beside U.S. 60. The Devil's Canyon Bridge is historically significant as an integral part [of] one of the state's most important early highway projects. Additionally, this structure is technologically important as an early example of a statewide bridge design trend. The Arizona Highway Department used three basic concrete arch configurations In the 1910s and 1920s: the Luten arch, the open spandrel arch, and what it termed the "common arch" – or segmental filled spandrel – design. Longspan examples of the former were engineered by their inventor, Daniel Luten, or his assistants. The latter two were designed in-house by AHD bridge engineers for medium-to-long-span applications. The Devil's Canyon Bridge is noteworthy as the oldest such AHD-designed common arch remaining in Arizona. It was followed soon by other similar AHD spans, among them the Lynx Creek Bridge (1922), Verde River Bridge (1922–23) and Fossil Creek Bridge (1924), all featuring similar Luten-like reinforcing, span lengths and concrete detailing."

Location

Superior, Pinal County, Arizona
33.32762, -111.03226

Categories

ENGINEERINGTRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Queen Creek Bridge
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3.9 mi
Magma Hotel
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4.4 mi
Thompson, Boyce, Southwestern Arboretum
Listed
8.3 mi
Caldwell, Erskine P., House
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9.5 mi
Bullion Plaza School
Pre Contact
10 mi

Questions about this property

When was Devil's Canyon Bridge listed on the National Register?

Devil's Canyon Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 29, 1988.

What type of historic resource is Devil's Canyon Bridge?

Devil's Canyon Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Devil's Canyon Bridge?

The period of significance for Devil's Canyon Bridge is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1921.

Can I research the history near Devil's Canyon Bridge?

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