Gillespie Dam Bridge
bridge in Arizona listed on National Register of Historic Places
The Gillespie Dam Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Gillespie Dam Highway Bridge) is a through truss bridge spanning the Gila River in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. The bridge was constructed to bypass a concrete apron through the river in front of the Gillespie Dam, which was often closed due to flooding. Construction of the bridge started in 1925 and completed in 1927. From its opening until 1956, the bridge was part of U.S. Route 80 (US 80), a transcontinental highway between San Diego, California and Tybee Island, Georgia. The bridge was restored in 2012 by Maricopa County for the Arizona Centennial and now includes an educational interpretive center for visitors. The bridge became part of Historic US 80 in 2018.
History
The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway was established in 1911 after delegates from California, Arizona and New Mexico met in Phoenix. The purpose of the new route was to establish an all weather transcontinental highway through the state and two territories. Between Yuma and Phoenix, a section of highway 200 miles (320 km) long traveled through Dome and Wellton before crossing to the north side of the Gila River, and passing through Agua Caliente, Arlington and Buckeye. Maintenance of the route was originally split between Yuma and Maricopa counties.
“Gillespie Dam Bridge” enters the record as bridge in Arizona listed on National Register of Historic Places. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gillespie, Bridge and bridge can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Gillespie Dam Bridge” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Gillespie, Bridge and bridge provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q56274014. The first chronological checks are 1925, 1927, 1956 and 2012.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gillespie Dam Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.