Matagorda County Gets New Bridge

A half dozen or more Texas counties joined hands with Matagorda county at Palacios on Oct. 17 in a monster celebration of the completion of highway No. 58 and the new Colorado river bridge at Bay City:

Some eight thousand people were in attendance at the barbecue and speaking program which was prefaced by a most interesting pageant depicting the various methods of transportation from the days of the Indians to the present.

The new Colorado river bridge at Bay City is part of highway No, 58 and was constructed by the L. H. Lacy company of Dallas at a total estimated cost to county and state of $268.768.20.

The bridge has one 170-foot main span and two 80-foot approach spans, making a total length of 4,426 feet, with 4,086 lineal feet of trestle built with heavy northern fir stringers supporting the concrete slab. The pavement on the bridge is 20 feet between curbs.

The elevation of the bridge floor of the main span is 65.5 feet, the top of the piers 6017 feet, and the distance between the banks of the river is approximately 360 feet.

This handsome new bridge is the very latest in design and construction, the materials used were of the best, and it stands as a monument to the ear spirit of things in the rice belt district; better roads, better bridges, better everything building for the future and building well Matagorda county is to be congratulated upon the completion of highway No. 58, of which this bridge is an important part, as it brings the world to her door.--Emma Lewis Carleton in The Pentagon.

Daily Tribune, November 24, 1930