National Register of Historic Places

Otowi Suspension Bridge

San Ildefonso, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
Listed
July 14, 1997
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
97000730

About this property

The Otowi Suspension Bridge, spanning the Rio Grande River near San Ildefonso, New Mexico, is a wooden single-lane suspension bridge for road traffic, built in 1924. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. In its 1996 NRHP nomination, it is asserted to be significant in the areas of transportation and engineering. It was important for having opened a large part of New Mexico to automobile traffic, including Bandelier National Monument, the Pajarito Plateau, the townsite of Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which became nationally important during World War II. It was also the only public highway suspension bridge in the state and was the best-rated bridge in the state in a 1987 survey. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic when a two-lane steel through truss bridge was opened in Spring 1948 just north of it. The steel bridge, with its 290-foot (88 m) length, was the longest road span in New Mexico at the time. In turn, it has since been replaced with a four-lane concrete deck bridge. Now a pedestrian bridge, it was a contributing property in the listing of the Otowi Historic District to the National Register in 1975.

Location

San Ildefonso, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
35.87470, -106.14199

Categories

TRANSPORTATIONENGINEERING
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

Otowi Historic District
Listed
0.1 mi
San Ildefonso Pueblo
Listed
1.8 mi
Lujan-Ortiz House
Industrial
4.7 mi
Roybal, Ignacio, House
Industrial
5.7 mi
Santa Clara Pueblo
Listed
7.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Cañada Battle – Taos Revolt
1847Mexican-American War
9.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Otowi Suspension Bridge listed on the National Register?

Otowi Suspension Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 1997.

What type of historic resource is Otowi Suspension Bridge?

Otowi Suspension Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Otowi Suspension Bridge?

The period of significance for Otowi Suspension Bridge is recorded as the industrial era.

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