DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Arroyo Colorado Lift Bridge in Cameron County. Now settle in, because this story's got water, mud, a whole lot of waiting, and one seriously stubborn stretch of river. The Arroyo Colorado is the Lower Rio Grande Valley's only natural waterway besides the Rio Grande itself.
Eighty-nine miles long, it runs from Mission in Hidalgo County all the way down to the lower Laguna Madre in Cameron County. And from the late 1700s, when folks first started settling this land in earnest, that Arroyo was a problem. Not a gentle, wade-across-it problem.
A real, honest-to-goodness impediment, with only two prominent locations where you could even think about crossing. Two. Along the whole stretch.
The land had a way of reminding people who was in charge. Now, in 1910, the town of Rio Hondo was established right there on the east bank of the Arroyo Colorado. Rio Hondo — that's 'deep river' in Spanish, and if you're keepin' score, the name was not exactly ironic.
If you were coming in from Harlingen or any town sitting west of that stream, getting to Rio Hondo was its own kind of adventure. Then the San Benito Canal went in, and the land around Rio Hondo started opening up for agricultural development. People and goods needed to move.
The Arroyo, unmoved by anyone's schedule, kept right on flowing. In the 1920s, they stretched a narrow low-water wooden bridge across it, suspended on piles. Sounded fine until the flooding came.
And the high tidal flows. That bridge got subjected to both, frequently. So they put a one-vehicle ferry into operation — one vehicle at a time, folks, you can do the math on that wait — and it ran until 1927, when a one-lane steel span bridge finally got erected.
Progress was happening, slowly but surely. Then came the bigger idea: dredge the Arroyo Colorado and create an actual port for Harlingen. Well, now you've got boat traffic to think about, and a fixed bridge just won't do.
So they built a temporary swing bridge to hold things over. Temporary. That word does a lot of heavy lifting in Texas infrastructure history.
But in May of 1953, the real deal opened. A vertical-lift bridge spanning over 380 feet in length and 25 feet in width, engineered by the New York firm Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall and MacDonald. It ran on two electric pulley motors on each side of the span, and when a vessel needed to pass, that whole deck would rise — lift and descent taking ten to fifteen minutes.
You just parked your truck, watched the river, maybe thought about your life a little. What makes this bridge something worth pulling over for is this: it is the only lift bridge built between 1945 and 1960 in Texas that is still in operation. Everything that came before it — the wooden bridge, the one-car ferry, the single-lane steel span, the swing bridge — every one of those was a chapter in a story the Arroyo Colorado kept forcing people to write.
This bridge is the one that finally answered back.
What the marker says
The Arroyo Colorado is the Lower Rio Grande Valley’s only natural waterway besides the Rio Grande. The 89-mile stream extends from mission in Hidalgo County to the lower Laguna Madre in Cameron County. From early colonization in the late 1700s, the Arroyo has been an impediment to travel, with only two prominent locations to cross. In 1910, the town of Rio Hondo, meaning “deep river” in Spanish, was established. Because of its location on the east bank of the Arroyo Colorado, travelers from the nearest major town of Harlingen or any other town west of the stream had difficulties traveling to Rio Hondo. Following the construction of the San Benito Canal, land around Rio Hondo began to open for agricultural development. A narrow low water wooden bridge suspended on piles was stretched across the Arroyo in the 1920s but was frequently subjected to flooding and high tidal flows. To better serve travelers from the west, a one-vehicle ferry was put into operation until 1927 when a one-lane steel span bridge was erected. When the plan to dredge the Arroyo Colorado to create a port for Harlingen materialized, a temporary swing bridge was built. In May 1953, the new vertical-lift bridge spanning over 380 feet in length and 25 feet in width opened. Designed by the New York engineering firm Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall & MacDonald, the bridge operated with two electric pulley motors on each side of the span with a lift and descent of ten to fifteen minutes. The bridge is not only a practical economic lifeline and a prime gateway to area attractions but is the only lift bridge built between 1945 and 1960 in Texas that is still in operation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012