About this property
Plata Bridge (Spanish: Puente Plata), listed in Puerto Rico's bridge inventory as Bridge #374 and now also known as Antiguo Puente Plata, was built in 1908. It is significant as "the only extant large multi span truss bridge in Puerto Rico", according to its nomination document for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes two Parker truss spans and was built in 1908. It brought what is now Puerto Rico Highway 167 across the Rio La Plata, spanning from Bayamon municipality and into Naranjito, and connected several mountain towns to the coastal road along Puerto Rico's north coast. It consists of two steel Parker trusses, each span of length 42 metres (138 ft), atop massive masonry supports, 40 feet (12 m) tall. The masonry includes ashlar buttresses and relief decoration. A contractor, Jose Lago, built its masonry supports for $9,000. The trusses cost $13,228 and were manufactured by the prolific American Bridge Co. They were installed by American Bridge Co.'s subsidiary Groton Bridge Co. It was one of nine steel bridges built in 1908 that were financed by Puerto Rico's first public works bond issue, of 1906, which raised $1 million. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones in 2000. At the time, the setting was relatively unchanged from its date of construction, although a modern bridge had been built adjacent to it. And it was deemed to have "a high degree of integrity of design, workmanship, feeling, association, materials, and setting." Its condition was then judged "fair". It is now unused. The modern bridge that carries traffic is on the upstream side of the historic bridge. Faster connection to the coast is now provided by Puerto Rico Highway 5, which crosses the Rio la Plata on the cable-stayed Jesús Izcoa Moure Bridge about 2 miles (3.2 km) downstream. On August 28, 2017 the bridge collapsed, thus being an unstable half of the historic bridge.
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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.
Everything a full report reveals about Plata Bridge
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Questions about this property
When was Plata Bridge listed on the National Register?
Plata Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 18, 1995.
What type of historic resource is Plata Bridge?
Plata Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Plata Bridge?
The period of significance for Plata Bridge is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1908.
Can I research the history near Plata Bridge?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Plata Bridge will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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