ARIZONA LEGENDS

Topock - End of Arizona 66

Beyond Golden Shores about five miles, is the end of Arizona’s ribbon of the Mother Road, at Topock. Though the town still appears on maps, there really isn’t a town anymore. Today, you’ll find the arched bridge across the Colorado that supports a pipeline and the I-40 Bridge that you’ll cross to get to California. But, of a town, there is nothing.

However, in 1883, there was a settlement born along the river when the wooden railroad bridge was built. Just a few years later, in 1890, the wood railroad bridge was replaced by the Red Rock Bridge, at a cost of almost a half million dollars – big bucks in those days. At this time, road travelers crossed the river on the Needles Ferry. However, in 1914, when a flood took the ferry out of commission, planks were put on the Red Rock Bridge, where automobiles and wagons crossed between trains.

Sign seen from I-40 at Exit 1, Kathy Weiser, April, 2008.

A couple of years later the Trails Arch Bridge was completed in February, 1916, to accommodate road travelers. A substantial improvement over sharing a bridge with a train, the arch bridge could only accommodate one way traffic of trucks and busses. Furthermore, the bridge had a weight limitation of 11 tons which created a problem when truck traffic increased during World War II.

Soon, engineers began to look for a new way for Route 66 travelers to cross the Colorado River. When the Santa Fe Railroad opened a new bridge for their trains in 1945, the rails were removed from the old Red Rock Bridge, reinforcements were made, and the bridge opened for automobile traffic in 1947. In 1966, when I-40 barreled through, replacing the Mother Road, a new four lane steel girder bridge was built and the old Red Rock Bridge abandoned. After 22 years of sitting rusting in the sun, the Red Rock Bridge was finally dismantled.

And what of the Trails Arch Bridge that was abandoned in 1947? It’s still there, its gleaming white girders now supporting gas and utility lines across the river.

What a wondrous ride across the beautiful state of Arizona! Now, fill up your water bottle as you head on to California across the long and dusty Mojave desert.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated April, 2008.

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Route 66 from Golden Shores to Needles, California, Kathy Weiser, April, 2008.

The Trails Arch Bridge across the Colorado River once carried road travelers along Route 66 in the early days. Now it carries utility lines across the mighty Colorado. Photo by Emily Priddy.

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