Historic Suspension Bridges:
Advent of the State Highway Department

• The First Wire Bridges
• Introduction of Wire Bridge Technology in Texas
• Awarding of Wire Bridge Patents to Regional Inventors
• Advent of the State Highway Department
• Evolution of the Vernacular Wire Bridge in Texas

The early 20th century saw the rise of the automobile and the decline of the railroads. The State Highway Department was created in 1917 to secure federal funds provided under the 1916 Federal-Aid Road Act. The establishment of a State Bridge Engineer in 1918 marked the beginning of a transition to standardized highway bridge design. The Federal Highway Act of 1921 established direct control by state highway departments over road and bridge construction. In 1925, the State Legislature enacted the laws that switched the responsibility for highway improvement planning from the counties to the State Highway Department.

In spite of these radical changes, niche markets remained for wire cable bridges. In addition to a demand for maintenance on the many Flinn bridges still serviceable during this period, there was a market for new rural bridges off the state highway system and for private interstate and international toll bridges.

Austin Bridge Company

George and Frank Austin came to Texas in 1889 and 1894 respectively, as agents for the George E. King Bridge Company of Des Moines, Iowa. By 1910 "Austin Brothers, Contractors" was an independent bridge fabricating and contracting firm. The Austin Brothers Bridge Company was formed in 1918 when Frank Austin sold the contracting part of the firm to Charles Moore. The name was later shortened to the Austin Bridge Company, ABC.

In 1922 the Austin Bridge Company hired some of the foremen who had worked for Mitchell & Pigg and ventured into the field of repairing existing suspension bridges. By 1924, ABC was contracting new suspension bridges with these crews. According to a company history, ABC made very few changes to the traditional methods of construction. The following ABC photos reveal a striking similarity to the methods shown in the Flinn photos.

In January of 1925, Austin Bridge Company entered their first contract for a new suspension bridge with the Nocona Bridge Company for a 213-m (700-ft.) span over the Red River at Ketchum Bluff, in Montague County and continued using the methods of Mitchell & Pigg with subsequent bridges.

With the increasing use of the automobile, investment in toll bridges attracted financiers in Texas. The low cost of ABC suspension bridges appealed to these investors. The international toll bridge over the Rio Grande (below) linking Hidalgo, Texas, and Reynosa, Mexico, was built by ABC in 1926 and remained in service until its demolition in the 1960s.

With the suspension bridges built by the Austin Bridge Company from 1925 to 1939, the vernacular suspension bridge tradition in Texas came to an end. The only surviving example of an Austin Bridge Company cable highway bridge is the recently restored Regency Suspension Bridge over the Colorado River, built in 1939. No more wire highway bridges in the vernacular tradition were built in Texas after 1939. After the World War II, the inauguration the Interstate Highway System led to the development of new technologies such as prestressed concrete, and all-welded steel plate girders.

• The First Wire Bridges
• Introduction of Wire Bridge Technology in Texas
• Awarding of Wire Bridge Patents to Regional Inventors
• Advent of the State Highway Department
• Evolution of the Vernacular Wire Bridge in Texas