History of the Avenue Bridge 2

History of the Avenue Bridge 2. . , History of the Avenue Bridge 2 , The 1864 bridge was destroyed by flood in 1867, despite the citizens' valiant effort to defend it from unusually high spring waters. Vigilant people had, however, saved as much wood as they could in anticipation of a heavy runoff. The Colorado Transcript newspaper's "Press Gang" grew weary of taking a long route to cross. With their neighbors, they built an emergency bridge. Then Jefferson County hired Jonas M. Johnson to build a new, flood-proof bridge. He shortened the span to 65 feet, built atop solid stone abutments. It stood 11 to 12 feet above the river. Since then this bridge has been an evolving work, with each new design taking elements from the past designs., The Avenue Bridge built by Johnson served well, but the community did not heed the limits of its design, and a sheep stampede crashed it a into the river in 1882. The Golden municipal government, in possession of the bridge since it's formation in 1871, designed a modern strong bridge. They hired the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio to cast it. The new bridge, which was built by J.E. Benjamin, was laid upon a stout new granite slab as its southern abutment. The bridge was made with trusses 7 feet high. It measured 30 feet wide with 5-foot sidewalks on both sides separated from the main bridge by the trusses., Over the years, this bridge was used and abused. It crashed into the river during the floods of 1894 and 1907, requiring lifting and replacement upon its supports. Both times the city government realized it needed an increased span to make it flood proof. However, Golden could not afford the required rebuild. After the 1894 flood wiped out the north pier and 40 feet of its bank, a new pier was built incorporating large granite blocks from Golden Gate Canyon. The new embankment was fortified by over 75 driven spruce piles. In 1930, a new concrete southern pier was built, foreshadowing an altogether new bridge. By 1937, Golden had grown to a point where the bridge was considered to be dangerously narrow and worn for the increasing traffic. The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) was commissioned to build a new bridge.