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Rainbow Arch Bridge

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1923, Marsh Engineering Company. Colorado 52 (NR)
  • Rainbow Arch Bridge (Tom Noel)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)

Engineer James B. Marsh of Des Moines patented the rainbow or Marsh arch design in 1912. Although expensive to construct, this graceful and innovative concrete and steel design was used throughout the country. When it was built to bridge the South Platte River, this single Colorado example of the type was said to be the longest such bridge in the world. Its eleven spans arch gracefully over the roadbed from below-grade piers. The three southern spans have been reinforced by steel tension rods, and a second bridge was built in 1963 to relieve traffic volume on the narrow roadbed. Now designated a Civil Engineering Landmark, the bridge has been converted to a pedestrian crossing with the original cast iron lamps recast and reinstalled in 1995.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

What's Nearby

Fort Morgan Power Plant
Fort Morgan Library and Fort Morgan History Museum
Warner House
Bloedorn House
Curry House

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Rainbow Arch Bridge", [Fort Morgan, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-MR10.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 253-253.

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