Navajo Bridge

Two steel arch bridges cross Marble Canyon side by side on US 89A, 467 and 470 feet above the Colorado River. The older one is open only to people on foot. The Park Service says they are one of only seven land crossings of the river in 750 miles, which is why the first bridge mattered so much.

Before 1929 the crossing here was by ferry at Lees Ferry, five miles upstream. When cars began using it in the 1920s, a bridge site was chosen five miles downstream at Marble Canyon. Construction began in June 1927. Getting men and materials from one rim to the other, only 800 feet apart, was hard. On June 7, 1928, the ferry sank in an accident that killed three men. With the bridge nearly done, the ferry was never replaced. For months the only way between Utah and Arizona was an 800-mile detour. The bridge opened on January 12, 1929. At the time it was the highest steel arch bridge in the world. Nearly 7,000 people in 1,217 cars came to the dedication in June 1929, and since Prohibition was in force, the bridge was christened with ginger ale. It was called the Grand Canyon Bridge until 1934, when the Arizona legislature renamed it Navajo Bridge.

The original bridge served for 66 years, but it was only 18 feet wide with a 40-ton limit. Over 13 years, 72 accidents happened on or near it, eight of them fatal. A new bridge went up just downstream from May 1993. A net was strung beneath it to stop rock falling on rafters below. Traffic switched over on May 2, 1995. The new span is 909 feet long and 44 feet wide, and it cost $14.7 million. The 1929 bridge cost $390,000.

Today the historic bridge is a pedestrian walkway. The Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center on the west side is open year-round, with exhibits inside and outside about both bridges, plus seasonal restrooms, a picnic shelter and wheelchair access. Leashed pets are allowed. Look for California condors. Birds released in nearby Vermilion Cliffs National Monument often roost and play at the bridge, using the wind through the canyon. Don't approach or harass them. The Lees Ferry road starts just west of the bridge.