Rainbow Bridge

Photos 

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

BH Photo #115056

Map 

Street Views 

Video 

Facts 

Overview

Through truss bridge over Neches River on Westbound TX 73 in Port Arthur

Location

Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas, and Orange County, Texas

Status

Open to traffic

History

Opened Sept. 8, 1938; parallel bridge built 1991; rehabilitated and reopened to northbound traffic in 1998

Builders

- Ash, Howard, Needles, & Tammen of Kansas City, Missouri
- George Wickline of the Texas Highway Department's Bridge Division
- Taylor-Fichter Steel Construction Co. of New York, New York
- Texas Highway Department
- Union Bridge & Construction Co. of Kansas City, Missouri

Design

Cantilevered Warren through and deck truss

Dimensions

Length of largest span: 680.2 ft.
Total length: 7,741.5 ft. (1.5 mi.)
Deck width: 22.6 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.0 ft.

Also called

Port Arthur-Orange Bridge

Approximate latitude, longitude

+29.98000, -93.87111   (decimal degrees)
29°58'48" N, 93°52'16" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

15/415964/3316888 (zone/easting/northing)

Average daily traffic (as of 2016)

16,000

Inventory numbers

NRHP 96001127 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
TXNBI 201240030603015 (Texas bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 33135 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Inspection report (as of July 2018)

Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 45.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Update Log 

• March 23, 2022: New video from Brian R. Warren
• February 9, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
• May 5, 2021: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
• March 26, 2015: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
• June 2, 2014: Photo imported by Patrick Feller
• September 21, 2011: New photo from Nathan Morton
• April 13, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
• June 10, 2008: New photos from Historic American Engineering Record

Related Bridges 

• Veterans Memorial Bridge (Downstream) - These are parallel Spans one Eastbound the other Westbound

Sources 

• Historic American Engineering Record
• Nathan Holth
• Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
• HAER Documentation
• National Register Nomination Text
• Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
• Texas DOT
• Rainbow Bridge (Port Arthur - Orange Bridge) - HistoricBridges.org
• Geoff Hubbs
• Brian R. Warren

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