|
The
Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers at the Kinzua Sky Walk on State road 3011 in Mt. Jewett, Pennsylvania September 16, 2013 |
  |
In the language of the Seneca-Iroquois, “Kinzua” is written as, Tgenhjowa (tgenh-joh-wawh!), which translates as “fish on a spear”. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
In 1900, the viaduct was rebuilt of steel to accommodate larger loads and the weight of modern train traffic In 1963, Govenor William Scranton signed legislation that provided for the acquisition of the viaduct and adjacent lands to become a state park. The Kinzua Bridge State Park opened in 1970. In 1977, the Kinzua Viaduct was placed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks by the Federal Department of Interior. |
|
The bridge stood for 121 years before it partially collapsed under the powerful winds of a tornado in 2003. |
|
In 2009, work started to reinvent the remaining towers of the historic viaduct as a pedestrian walkway. That plan was changed. |
|
Today the Viaduct, has been reinvented as the Kinzua Sky Walk a spectacular walkway that once again allows the public to “Walk the Tracks Across the Sky.” A partial glass-bottomed observation deck enables visitors to look down at the remaining towers supporting the historic structure. |
|
The Kinzua Viaduct was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and the National Register of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks in 1982. |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
A partial glass-bottomed observation deck enables visitors to look down at the remaining towers supporting the historic structure. |
|
 |
 |
Looking through the glass floor of the Kinzua bridge to 301 feet down |
|
 |
 |
The ruins of the Kinzua Bridge |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Kinzua Bridge as seen from a nearby lookout |
|
 |
 |
The Kinzua Viaduct, when first constructed in May 1882, was the highest and longest viaduct in the world, measuring 301 feet high and 2,053 feet long. The need to transport coal, oil and lumber across the Kinzua Gorge inspired General Thomas Kane, president of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Coal Company and Octave Chanute, Chief Engineer for the Erie Railroad to design a colossal viaduct.
AFTER
you have visited all four (4) sites above, please continue on to the
adventures of the two RV Gypsies as they explored
