Historical Tablet

Historical Tablet. . , The first old 1871 six span wrought iron truss and timber bridge for pedestrians and horse drawn vehicles was removed from this site and re-erected at 8th Avenue because it was too narrow for the 1910 traffic on Third Avenue., It was replaced by Barton J. Sweat of Cedar Rapids in 1911 with a new 48 foot wide roadway on fill and with 10 foot wide sidewalks and heavy ballustered handrails on both sides on a new six span 64 foot wide reinforced concrete barrel arch bridge as designed by Hedrick and Cochrane of Kansas City for Double Track Street Railway, with brick paving between curbs and hollow spaces under the sidewalks for utilities on both sides, at a cost of only $148,000.00., The arches and piers of this second bridge still remain and the present bridge, as redesigned by Ned L. Ashton, was rebuilt upon the arches of the second bridge with pier and arch additions on both sides as an open spandrel arch bridge. After removing the 6,000 tons of fill, with a completely new deck 90 feet wide with a 72 foot roadway and new aluminum handrails by Cramer Brothers Construction Co. of Des Moines, Iowa at a cost of $1,420,000 in 1966 including the new parking space constructed under the roadway on the island.