Saturday, November 5, 2011

Utah's Bridges: State Route 24 at I-70 in Emery County

May 2006 (38.923 Degrees, -110.376 Degrees) State Route 24 Overcrossing
We've left Michigan for Utah: two very different environments, but each with their own kind of beauty. Does the geology of the region detract or enhance the appearance of simple bridge structures?

On May 25th I rode west from the Green River along the shoulder of I-70 (with almost no traffic). After about 13 miles I exited I-70 for State Route 24 at the location of today's bridge.

According to the Ugly Bridges Website, this is a three span continuous steel girder bridge that was built in 1972. It is 381 ft long with a 141 ft long span over I-70. It carries two traffic lanes, has a 40.4 ft width, and provides 16.4 ft vertical clearance over I-70. The girders sit on pier walls with hammerhead caps and seat-type abutments. According to the website, the average daily traffic is only 315 vehicles (as of 2010) and has been moving downward for the last 20 years. Considering all of the dinosaur footprints, petroglyphs, interesting rock formations, state parks, and other amazing things to see and do in the area, I'm surprised there isn't more traffic!

The bridge appears to blend in pretty well with its rugged, arid surroundings. Just beyond the bridge is the San Rafael Reef (or monocline). Pioneers crossing the area would pretend that their wagons were ships traveling across the sea and they called the rocky outcroppings that blocked their path 'reefs.'
Creative Commons License
Utah's Bridges: State Route 24 at I-70 in Emery County by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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