Rio Puerco Bridge

The Rio Puerco Bridge is a Parker through truss bridge located on historic U.S. Route 66 (US 66) in western Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, that is listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Description


The bridge crosses the Rio Puerco and was built in 1933. It is located approximately 19 mi west of Albuquerque.

It was built to carry a past alignment of US 66 over the Rio Puerco, and in 1997 carried a frontage road for Interstate 40 (I-40). It no longer carries traffic, and has been bypassed by a different frontage road bridge.

The single-span Parker through truss steel bridge was fabricated by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company and built by F.D. Shufflebarger in 1933. Its substructure includes two concrete piers and massive concrete abutments set upon timber pilings. The total bridge length is 330 ft, including the 250 ft span, which has ten 25 ft panels, and two 40 ft approaches.

It is located 40 yd north of the I-40, about 8.9 mi west of I-40 westernmost exit at Albuquerque.

The bridge was added to the NRHP July 15, 1997.