Tuesday, September 27, 2011

the historic Kinzua bridge, Pennsylvania, becomes the Kinzua Sky Walk


The old postcard above proclaimed this bridge of the Erie Railroad system on the branch from Bradford to the coal fields of Elk County to be the highest railway bridge in the world, and for its first two years it was. This status was taken by the Garabit Viaduct, 401 feet (122 metres) tall, completed in France in 1884. 

The Kinzua bridge was built in iron on sandstone masonry piers in 1882, designed to support a load of 266 short tons (241 tonnes).  By 1900 that was no longer enough so a new steel bridge was designed by C.R. Grimm and built by the Elmira Bridge Company out of 3,358 short tons (3,046 tonnes) of steel. A crew of between 100 and 150 worked 10-hour days for four months to complete the steel frame by 6 September 1900, and the bridge reopened to traffic on 25 September 1900. Once rebuilt, the bridge was able to safely accommodate one of the largest steam locomotives in the world, the 511-short-ton (464 tonne) Big Boy (see earlier post).

The Erie Railroad obtained trackage rights on the nearby Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) line in the late 1950s, which allowed it to bypass the aging Kinzua Bridge. Regular commercial service ended on 21 June 1959, and the Erie sold the bridge to the Kovalchick Salvage Company of Indiana whose owner Nick Kovalchick, however, could not bear to dismantle the bridge. Kovalchick worked with local groups who wanted to save the structure, and the Pennsylvania Governor signed a bill into law on 12 August 1963, to purchase the bridge and nearby land for $50,000 to create Kinzua Bridge State Park. The deed for the park's 316 acres (128 hectares) (now 329 acres) was recorded on 20 January 1965, and the park was opened to the public in 1970. The Knox and Kane Railroad (KKRR) operated sightseeing trips from Kane through the Allegheny National Forest and over the Kinzua Bridge from 1987 until the bridge was closed in 2002.

On 21 July 2003 a tornado caused a large part of the deteriorating bridge to collapse and the $45 million cost of restoring it was considered prohibitive.

The Knox and Kane Railroad was forced to suspend operations in October 2004 after a 75 percent decline in the number of passengers, brought about by the collapse of the Kinzua Bridge. The Kovalchick Corporation bought the Knox and Kane's tracks and all other property owned by the railroad, including the locomotives and rolling stock. The Kovalchick Corporation also owns the East Broad Top Railroad and was the company that owned the Kinzua Bridge before selling it to the state in 1963. The company plans to remove the tracks and sell them for scrap and the right-of-way then  used to establish a rail trail.

The state of Pennsylvania released $700,000 to design repairs on the remaining towers and plan development of the new park facilities in June 2005. Later that year, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) put forward an $8 million proposal for a new observation deck and visitors' centre, with plans to allow access to the bridge and a hiking trail giving views of the fallen towers.

The Kinzua Sky Walk was opened on the 15th of this month. The Sky Walk consists of a pedestrian walkway to an observation deck with a glass floor at the end of bridge that allows views of bridge and the valley directly below. The walkway cost $4.3 million to construct, but is estimated to bring in $11.5 million in tourism revenue for the region. Webpage

Bridge Specifications (as it was)
Length  2,052 ft (625 metres)
Width  10 ft (3 metres)
Height  301 ft (92 metres)
Weight  6,715,000 lb (3,046 tonnes)

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