Qualla: Gillespie Dam Bridge

Gillespie Dam Bridge: Introduction

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thad Roan from Littleton, CO, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Spanning the often-dry bed of the Gila River west of Phoenix, the Gillespie Dam Bridge stands as a testament to engineering resilience in the American Southwest. This steel through-truss structure carried transcontinental traffic on U.S. Route 80 for nearly three decades, and has outlasted floods, neglect, and even the dam it was built to bypass. In a landscape where water is the great destroyer, this bridge simply refuses to fall.

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Image: Thad Roan from Littleton, CO, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Gillespie Dam Bridge: The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shereth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway was established in 1911 to create an all-weather transcontinental route from California through Arizona to New Mexico. But the Gila River had other plans. Floods in 1919 and 1920 devastated the highway. The earlier Antelope Hill Bridge was washed out re...

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Image: Shereth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gillespie Dam Bridge: Built to Last

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Next Adventure Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the Gillespie Dam Bridge finally opened on August 1, 1927, it was designed to survive what the desert could throw at it. The steel truss structure sat on concrete piers sunk deep into the bedrock below the river. The bridge served as part of U.S. Route 80 until 1956, when a ...

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Image: Next Adventure Photography | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gillespie Dam Bridge: Centennial Restoration

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0. From 2011 to 2012, Maricopa County invested 7.3 million dollars to restore the bridge for Arizona's centennial. Workers strengthened the piers and truss sections, replaced roller bearings, and built an interpretive plaza telling the story of this remarkable survivor. In 2018, the...

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Image: Marine 69-71 | CC BY-SA 4.0