Gone But Not Forgotten: Kinzua Bridge

Many structures are not what they used to be, and the Kinzua Bridge is no exception. Having been built in 1881 thanks to the advocation of General Thomas L. Kane seeing a need for a through railroad route to Buffalo, New York. The cornerstone of the bridge  was placed in August of 1881, and was the largest railroad bridge  in the world at the time.  Ironically,  the original  bridge was replaced roughly 20 years later due to the fact railcars were now being made with heavier steel and other dense materials. Due to this matter,  the bridge  needed rebuilt to support these cars. The replacement  weighed 3,500 tons and was 2,100 feet  long. While the bridge was used quite  frequently  by trains,  The Erie Railroad decided  to operate the last freight train over the bridge on June 21, 1959. It was then turned into the Kinzua Bridge State Park in 1963. In 1977 the bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1982 the Knox and Kane Railroad began operations from Knox to Mt. Jewett, Pennsylvania with the option  to go out onto the bridge by train. In August  of 2002, the operation  was closed due to the deterioration  of the bridges  structure. The State of Pennsylvania   hired a contractor to do the necessary  repairs  to the bridge, but on July 21, 2003 an F1 tornado travelling at 94 miles per hour destroyed 11 of the 20 towers  on the bridge. In 2009, the bridge was envisioned  to become the Kinzua sky walk allowing the visitors  to walk across the remains of the railroad  trestle and look down at the aftermath  of the tornado through a glass floor. The Kinzua Bridge  Sky Walk opened  on September  15, 2011 and is free to visit and view what the wrath of mother nature  can do. While the Sky Walk  is an excellent  landmark, it is only a shell of it's  former self. The bridge  was considered  to be the "8th wonder of the world" and before the collapse was the 4th largest railroad bridge of all time, and the 2nd largest in North America. She may be partially gone, but certainly  not forgotten.