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Top 10 Unbelievable Facts about the Royal Gorge Bridge
The Royal Gorge Bridge is your place if you’re looking for the Colorado adventure ultimate experience. The bridge is a tourist destination located in Colorado near Cañon City.
You can take your family along and experience the breathtaking vistas and enjoy the fun activities the Royal Gorge bridge offers. While there, don’t miss out on the main attractions such as the Cloudscraper Zip Line, Aerial Gondola, and the Royal Rush Skycoaster.
If you have kids they can take a carousel ride and have fun at the playland and theatre. Thrill yourself with the Via Ferrata tour that allows you to scale the Royal Gorge walls. Get to know the incredible truths about the Royal Gorge bridge with these 10 facts.
1. The bridge is within Royal Gorge Bridge and Park
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park Photo by Chris Light-Wikimedia
Royal Gorge Bridge is located within a large amusement park. The Royal Gorge Bridge and Park are estimated at 360 acres or 150 ha. The park goes around both ends of the bridge and along the edges of the Royal Gorge.
2. The bridge is a tourist attraction from the beginning
Royal Gorge Bridge with tourists Photo by Chris Light-Wikimedia
The purpose of the Royal Gorge Bridge was to serve as a tourist destination. The bridge was never meant to become transportation through route.
The only time passenger vehicles are allowed to cross the bridge is before park attractions open and after their closure times. The time varies during different seasons.
The bridge is a no-go zone for large vehicles. A good example is trucks or RVs and or busses. They are not allowed to cross the bridge.
3. The bridge remained the highest suspension in the world for over seven decades
Royal Gorge Bridge maintained its record as the world’s highest bridge from 1929. But was overtaken by China’s Liuguanghe Bridge in 2001.
The bridge also ranked as the world’s highest suspension bridge until 2003. It was surpassed by the Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge in China. The time Royal Gorge Bridge defended its records as the highest bridge and highest suspension bridge is over seventy years.
4. The bridge is the United States’ highest bridge.
Royal Gorge Bridge in the United States has remained unchallenged. It is America’s highest bridge and highest suspension bridge. As of 2012, the bridge was among the top ten of the world’s highest bridges.
5. Royal Gorge Bridge was built in less than a year
Construction began on June 5, 1929. On 8, December 1929 the bridge was opened to the general public.
6. The bridge is over the Arkansas River
Royal Gorge Bridge is suspended above the Arkansas River at 291 meters or 955 feet. The bridge spans 384 meters in length translating to over a quarter-mile.
The bridge crosses over the Royal Gorge, 5 meters or 18 feet in width. The two bridge towers standing is 150 feet in height.
7. The bridge is a historical site
Royal Gorge Bridge was acknowledged as a historical place in 1983. This was the year the National Register of Historic Places added the bridge as part of its listings.
8. The bridge survived the 2013 wildfire at the park
The June 11, 2013 wildfire that struck the Royal Gorge Bridge park caused massive destruction in the park. The fire burned down 48 structures in the park out of a total of 52.
The bridge survived the flames. The damages of the fire cut across the park’s 3218 acres. Yet the Royal Gorge Bridge only lost 32 wooden planks.
9. Royal Gorge Bridge has over 1000 wooden planks
The bridge’s steel base structure has wooden planks covering it. The number of the wooden planks is about 1292. Each plank is estimated to weigh upwards of 250 pounds. The planks are made of Douglas fir.
10. The bridge came at a high cost
Royal Gorge Bridge construction cost totaled $350,000.When the cost is compared against 2020 dollar standards it would be 4.2 million dollars. The overruns were $100,000 since the estimated budget cost was $250,000. The company operating the bridge took care of the overruns.
Check these little-known facts about Royal Gorge Bridge that missed a slot on the top 10. Yet they are unimaginable realities of the bridge.
The bridge has seen millions of visitors
Royal Gorge Bridge boasts of 30 million-plus visitors since it opened.
Royal Gorge Bridge has hosted the noble
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1936 visited the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park when he was running for office in the same year. Roosevelt served as the United States’ 32nd president from 1933 up to 1945 when he died.
Only one person died during the bridge’s construction
The bridge records only one death that occurred when it was under construction. The death occurred on the Royal Gorge’s sloping sides ground.
The bridge has featured in iconic movies
Royal Gorge Bridge has seen many movies shot within its vicinity. The films are such as True Grit around 1911, 1972s Brother’s O’Toole, and Cannibal the Musical movie produced in 1996.
Other films that have featured the bridge are Prison Valley documentary a 2010 release. The film Women of San Quentin was inspired by the heavy presence of prisons within the Royal George area.
The filming took place in 1983 at Colorado Territorial Prison. The locals were slotted in as extras but no inmates were featured. The Spittin’ Image movie also included many locals of the Royal Gorge Region.
The climax was the 2021 Amazon Studio’s coming to America hanging flag. Amazon asked the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park to hang a 120 x 75-foot flag. The flag hung from the Royal Gorge Bridge over 950 feet up from the ground.
The flag made a record being the largest flag ever flown from the suspended bridge. The movie is a sequel to a 1988 film, coming to America starring Prince Akeem’s travels to New York from Zamunda.
The cost for the repairs after the 2013 fire outbreak was 30 million dollars. In 2015 repair work was completed. The reopening of the park was done on 8 May 2015.
The gondolas were thanks to the wildfire. They came as replacements for the aerial tram. The tram ran next to the bridge and was a famous attraction in itself.
It succumbed to the fire and was replaced by the gondolas. They offer a spectacular view as they allow a direct look down into the gorge which the aerial tram wouldn’t allow.
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