Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridge (5)

A view of the old Navajo Bridge with a stone retaining wall on the southeast side. 

Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridges (5) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridge (4)

Before the first Navajo Bridge was built in 1929, the only way across the Colorado River for hundreds of miles was a dangerous ferry ride. The original bridge (on the right) was too narrow and had a dangerous bend at the east end that caused accidents. The new bridge was built in 1994 and the old bridge was turned into a pleasant foot (and equestrian) bridge. The old arch span was 616 feet long and the new arch span is 726 feet long. Both bridges are about 500 feet above the Colorado River. They're located just south of Utah across from the aptly-named Vermillion Cliffs.

Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridges (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridge (3)

The view to the east (towards Marble Canyon) is much more colorful. I recall that there are only two highway bridges across the Colorado River in Arizona: the Navajo Bridge and the bridge at Glen Canyon Dam. There's also a few footbridge inside the Grand Canyon.

We'll study the history of Colorado River Crossings in tomorrow's blog.

Arizona's Bridges: Navajo Bridges (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arizona's Bridges:Navajo Bridge (2)

I can tell that it's the old bridge on the left because of its laced members. I believe this photo is looking to the west because I remember the mountains on the east side of the canyon were more colorful. 

Two young women were sitting under the shade of a tree selling jewelry by these bridges and I bought a silver pin in the shape of a roadrunner from them. I was happy because I made the women laugh by trying to speak Dine to them. The more I butchered their language the more they laughed.

Arizona's Bridges:Navajo Bridges (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.