Trip to Regency Bridge, June 7, 2020

This is the last suspension bridge in Texas that you can drive across, built mostly by hand labor in 1939.
It spans the Colorado River between Goldthwaite and San Saba and is accessible by car on the (gravel) County Road 433.
The bridge's road surface is made of wood; the cables are made of hundreds of wires individually hand-carried across the river by workers (from the Austin Bridge Company of Dallas) and strung together to make the cables. A crew of a dozen men built the bridge, according to a Goldthwaite Eagle article from 1983.
The Wikipedians' entry.
Austin Chronicle article.

 

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Gravel road approach to bridge

 

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Graffiti-covered anchorage

 

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Standing at midpoint of bridgeColorado river, looking east. The bridge sways a bit in the wind, or when a car drives across. No one came across while I was up there.

 

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View of wood road surface

 

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More wood -- looking west

 

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Detail of cable, looking west (and down)

 

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Another view of the river, looking east

 

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Another anchorage view

 

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View from south cliff bank of river

 

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The towers were made on-site in 1939 -- welded angle steel topped with cast steel saddles to support the cables (source: Goldthwaite Eagle, 1983)

 

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View down into river from bridge -- a pair of old concrete drainage (?) pipes

 

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