Bridge Monday; Antelope Island Causeway (former Utah State Route 127)

Back in 2015 I was ending a long road trip in the Northwest Region on of the Continental United States and had an extra day to kill in the Salt Lake City area. That being the case I decided to head out to Antelope Island in the middle of Great Salt Lake on the Antelope Island Causeway.

Antelope Island is the largest within Great Salt Lake at 42 square miles and is entirely located within Davis County. Antelope Island is home to Antelope Island State Park which was created in 1969. The creation of Antelope Island State Park led to the development of the first Antelope Island Causeway which was located over Farmington Bay just as the current structure. The first Antelope Island Causeway was part of third Utah State Route 127 which was created in 1965 and still exists between UT 110 and UT 108.

The waters of Great Salt Lake fluctuates wildly depending on winter rainfall. Great Salt Lake has been known to shrink to only 950 Square Miles in dry years and as high as 3,300 Square Miles during the wettest years. In 1983 the first Antelope Island Causeway closed due to flooding and needed to be replaced. The Utah State Legislature approved funding to build the current Antelope Island Causeway in 1991 and the structure was opened in 1993. The current Antelope Island Causeway is seven miles in length and is maintained by the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation.

From the western end of the Antelope Island Causeway much of Great Salt Lake can be seen. 2015 was a relatively wet year which is reflected in the depth of the waters around Antelope Island.

Antelope Island State Park is mostly known once privately held buffalo herd and the name antelopes. The ruins of the buffalo ranch on Antelope Island date back to the 1890s and were the result of failed homesteading.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove

Gribblenation

Search This Blog