The Phoenix Bridge

The Phoenix Bridge is a historic structure located near Eagle Rock in Botetourt. It is a one-lane bridge with a wooden roadway that crosses Craig Creek on Rt. 685. It is still in use today.

Autumn is not coming to SW VA this year.

Built in 1887, the structure was one of the first steel bridges in this end of Virginia. It was built by The Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; hence it's name.

The National Register of Historic Places listed it in 1975 as a place of interest. Click here for a Library of Congress link.

Looking north.

Around 1840, builders and engineers began using iron instead of timber for bridges; two iron bridges were built across the Erie Canal in New York about that time.

After the Civil War there was a boom in bridge-building, and The Phoenix Bridge Company formed to take care of the need.

I don't know if this is a Phoenix post, but I love the picture.

The Phoenix Company's distinctive product was the Phoenix post, a compression member composed of four flanged segments riveted together, which is used in this bridge.

We don't usually travel this road (locally known as Ball Park Road), but last weekend we headed to Eagle Rock to see if the Autumn colors were any better further north of us. Alas, as you can see, I was unable to take spectacular bridge photos with a lovely, colorful background.

I did, though, capture a nice blue sky.

The last time I wrote about this bridge was in 2009.