Rockville Bridge: 37° 9’31.25″N, 113° 2’15.83″W
After going to Zion National Park many times this was my first visit to the bridge. It really doesn’t take more than 10 minutes off the main road and is worth the stop!
This bridge is really neat to see and worth the 10 minute detour if you are visiting Zion National Park.
This bridge was built in 1924 by the National Park Service. This was one of the only ways back then to cross the Virgin River in order to continue on down to the Grand Canyon. The steel came from Minneapolis Steel & Machinery company and C.F. Dinsmore company built the bridge. The bridge is 217 ft in length and is on the route you would take to the ghost town of Grafton.
There is a plaque on both sides of the bridge saying:
Constructed in 1924, the Rockville Bridge incorporates distinctive characteristics in its method of construction and is the only surviving example of a rigid Parker through truss type bridge in the state of Utah. The Rockville Bridge is historically significant in the region as the first direct link between Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Between 1924 and 1928 the Rockville Bridge provided the primary route from Utah’s National Parks to the Grand Canyon.
Here is some more information about the bridge from the city of Rockville.
