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Royal Gorge Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within a 360 acre (1.5 km²) theme park, hanging 1,053 feet (321 m) above the Arkansas River and billed as the highest suspension bridge in the world. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad runs under the bridge along the base of Royal Gorge. The bridge is 880 feet (268 m) long but only 18 feet (5 m) wide, with a wooden walkway with over 1000 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that are 150 feet (46 m) high.
The bridge was constructed in six months, between June 5, 1929 and November 1929, as a one-lane toll bridge, at a cost of $350,000. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Oddly, the bridge was not constructed for transportation purposes; instead, it was built with the intent that it serve as a tourist attraction, and has continued to be one of the most-visited tourist attractions in Colorado since its construction.
The cable-stayed Viaduc de Millau, completed in December 2004, is the tallest bridge in the world, at 1,118 feet (341 m), but its road/vehicle deck is only 885 ft (270 m) above the River Tarn. The Royal Gorge Bridge is still the highest suspension bridge in the world, as well as the bridge with the highest deck-to-surface clearance.
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