Kinzua Bridge Remains Reopened to Public

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:46 pm

p51 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:29 pm

Interesting that they left the tracks in place, you'd have thought they would just board the whole thing over...

Ron Travis · **Joined:** Sun May 15, 2005 2:22 pm **Posts:** 1543

I am pleasantly amazed at the quality of the restoration; amazed that they even restored it. I hope they intend to leave the old steel where if fell during the tornado. It tells quite a story.

Mgoldman · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:40 am

Thanks for the links - nice set of photos.

I'll bet in 1980's dollars the funds spent could've rebuilt the bridge. Still, it's nice to see it preserved in a fashion that educates the public in regards to the historical aspects of the bridge and railroad(s) that used it.

'Course, if it were me...
I'd simply find more suitable power and continue operating over the bridge!

/Mitch

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:41 am

It really is a classic rail preservation arguement/dilemma...

It blew down. It was a major tourist draw in the region, and essentially the only way the excursion railroad survived, as that was the ohhhh....ahhhhh..... moment. Without the bridge the K&K struggled and couldn't make it. Another tourism hit.

Yet...however historic...if you did rebuild it, is it still historic with a great majority of new material? Are you building a new bridge rather than preserving an historic structure? And if so, why? It literally becomes the 'bridge to nowhere' as the K&K operated just to the east side where they had built a wye to turn around and come back across. So it no longer served any purpose except the monument it had become.

The State really struggled with it... I think the last estimate I'd heard before they gave up on it was $42 million. Even in PA, that's a number that raises eyebrows when we don't have our own mint. And you couldn't fund reconstruction as historic preservation. The bridge is now 'preserved' at the bottom of the valley.

While I'm not sure that anybody is happy with the outcome, I'm not sure there's much of a better solution, and at least it looks like what has been done has been done relatively well.

It also speaks, however, to some of the 'big guns' still out there (Youngs High Bridge in particular) to preserve them while you can. They 'JUST MISSED' preserving Kinzua and what survived is what they had finished reconstructing on either end. Even as a Pennsylvanian, I'd rather see money go to Youngs than rebuilding Kinzua.

Reading_Man · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:23 am

Mr. Gustafson, I am sure glad your not in charge of your State Historical Commission here in Pennsylvania.
Even though the bridge is left in this shape, It's still an historical site to see. At the time it was built, the original (date of 1882) Kinzua Bridge was the highest, at 301 feet , and longest, at 2,053 feet , railway bridge in the world, given the distinction of being listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark . The Erie Railroad company originally owned and operated this bridge.
So just preserving this much of the bridge is better then none of it all.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Randy Gustafson wrote:

It really is a classic rail preservation arguement/dilemma...

It blew down. It was a major tourist draw in the region, and essentially the only way the excursion railroad survived, as that was the ohhhh....ahhhhh..... moment. Without the bridge the K&K struggled and couldn't make it. Another tourism hit.

It also speaks, however, to some of the 'big guns' still out there (Youngs High Bridge in particular) to preserve them while you can. They 'JUST MISSED' preserving Kinzua and what survived is what they had finished reconstructing on either end. Even as a Pennsylvanian, I'd rather see money go to Youngs than rebuilding Kinzua.

Randy -

Well, I would too would like to see an effort made to preserve Youngs High Bridge. Hopefully that might be done one day. What kind of amazed me though in seeing these photos of this reopened segment of Kinzua, is that perhaps the K&K through in the towel a little too soon. How about a train to the bridge where now the passengers can get off right on the bridge to see the sights, including the remnants of the rest of the bridge structure down in the valley? Yes, I know there would have to be safeguards made so that a train couldn't go off the missing end, but it seems that this has been addressed before in other scenarios. Anyway, just my thoughts, for what they're worth (probably not too much).

Les

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:45 pm

Knowing the folks over there in Marienville including Sloan Cornell (now deceased).... trust me, they sure tried. They ran for two full years AFTER the bridge came down trying to see if they could make it work anyway - basically doing that, running up to the bridge and letting people walk over to the bridge site. It's not like they actually didn't give it the good try.

The railroad is legally abandoned and a trail proposal is out there. Kovalchick is doing the rail and OTM salvage working south to north, slowly. I've had several individuals look hard - very hard - at various chunks of the K&K for various purposes and I wouldn't say the story is entirely over, either. The success of this effort may drive any railroad attempt again, just as it did the first time. Remember that Cornell had to relay NEW track back to the bridge from Mt. Jewett, which seemed impossible at the time, wasn't at all.

And don't take me wrong about preservation. I've probably pulled down as many grant dollars for projects as anybody over 25 years. But most of your state and federal programs are interested in PRESERVATION, not reconstruction, which is what this would have really become. I can tell you that it was very seriously considered, but more of a tourism economic development thrust than historic preservation funding basis. PA had already funded a contract for PRESERVATION...right up until the very moment it blew over! There was no lack of willpower or consensus to get going on it, if they hadn't the entire thing would be in the valley rather than the middle spans. And it was, very seriously, looked at to rebuild it. But as an economic development project your competition becomes...casinos....sigh.

And bluntly, at the state level, if that kind of money becomes available for actual historic preservation we do have something else here - the EBT - that sorely needs it and is still very much original fabric, that has been waiting a long, long, time for a lot less money.

Of the towers that came down, essentially nothing was salvageable. It still tells a story today, just a different one. I'm hoping that word spreads that it is still worth seeing, because it really was one of the crown jewels in this region and the visitation numbers were surprisingly high as far out of the way as it is. I'd also like to think that this bridge blazed the trail, so to speak, for the effort that preserved the Poughkeepsie bridge before that got too bad to save either. I was over that this spring and was very impressed and the visitation and use is staggering. So I'll continue to campaign for Youngs, too, it's just a wonderful structure.

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3010

Randy Gustafson wrote:

I'd also like to think that this bridge blazed the trail, so to speak, for the effort that preserved the Poughkeepsie bridge before that got too bad to save either.

I would tend to agree. Before the K&K resumed operations on the bridge, it had a walkway on it with planks over the track, a lot like the Walkway Over the Hudson project.

If I had to guess, I'd say that far more people have walked over the bridge than ever rode over it on a K&K train. The park was quite popular and lots of folks visited to enjoy the view and admire the bridge. I don't see that changing much.

Sure, it was very impressive to ride over the bridge on a train. But I recall that the day I rode the train wasn't exactly packed full, and it's my impression that was pretty normal. It's a fairly remote region, and the trip took a good part of the day.

While I'm sad to see the train go, to be honest I agree that putting any available funds into something like the EBT would be a better choice.