The Rainbow Bridge is a through truss bridge crossing the

Neches River The Neches River () begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, L ...

in Southeast Texas just upstream from Sabine Lake. It allows State Highway 87 and State Highway 73 to connect Port Arthur in Jefferson County on the southwest bank of the river. Bridge City in Orange County is on the northeast bank.

Construction

Construction on the bridge began in 1936 under the guidance of the

Texas State Highway Department The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

. Due to concerns by the upstream city of Beaumont about the bridge posing a threat to ship navigation, the Rainbow Bridge was built with a main span. In addition, it has a vertical clearance of , which was intended to allow what was at the time the tallest ship in the U.S. Navy, , passage under the bridge (however, ''Patoka'' never did). However, the height of the bridge did allow the construction of jack up offshore drilling rigs at the Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard. With seventy-two rigs built, the shipyard was one of the major sources of offshore rigs built in the United States. The bridge was completed on September 8, 1938. The nearby town of Prairie View took on the name "Bridge City" in response. Initially named the Port Arthur- Orange Bridge, it received its current name in 1957. The bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Veterans Memorial Bridge

In 1988, construction began on the Veterans Memorial Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge. This bridge runs parallel to the Rainbow Bridge, and was dedicated on September 8, 1990. With a vertical clearance of , the bridge is somewhat shorter than its neighbor. After the completion of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge was closed for renovations. On its re-opening in 1997, the Rainbow Bridge became one way, handling westbound traffic only. The Veterans Memorial Bridge serves eastbound traffic.

References

External links

* * * * {{Port Arthur, Texas Bridges completed in 1938 Bridges completed in 1990 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Texas Buildings and structures in Orange County, Texas Cable-stayed bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Texas Transportation in Jefferson County, Texas Transportation in Orange County, Texas National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Texas Steel bridges in the United States 1936 establishments in Texas Public Works Administration in Texas

Construction

Veterans Memorial Bridge

See also

References

External links