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Environmental Heritage- DCNR At 15: Kinzua Railroad Bridge
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At 301 feet, the Kinzua railroad bridge was the fourth-tallest railroad bridge in the United States. Rebuilt in 1900 to replace the original iron bridge, the new steel bridge carried the Erie Railroad over the Kinzua Valley in McKean County to support the nearby coal industry. By the ‘50s, steam locomotives had stopped using the bridge, and the state purchased the bridge and surrounding land in 1963 to create a state park. In 1975, improvements were made to the park, and beginning in 1987, excursion trains used the tracks and bridge for sightseeing tours. In 2002, the bridge was closed for repairs.
But on July 21, 2003, as repairs were underway, a severe thunderstorm moved through the area. At the park, it spawned an F1 tornado, that cut a swath of destruction through the park and 3 and a half miles beyond.
Touching down right near the bridge—with perpendicular winds of around 94 mph—the ancient bolts supporting the steel towers were no match for the load-shifting, and the bridge failed around 3:30 p.m. No one was on the work site at the time, but the destruction was widespread.
The towers remain down to this day; while reconstruction of the bridge is currently too costly, improvements are planned to enhance visitors’ views of the wreckage—and the remaining parts of the bridge that survived Mother Nature.
Click here for more of the story. (Reprinted from the DCNR Resource online newsletter.)
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9/6/2010 |
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