Querino Canyon Bridge
Old US 66 over Querino Canyon, Houck, AZIn 1929, the Arizona Highway Department undertook an extensive rehabilitation and relocation of U.S. Highway 66 - the major east-west artery across northern Arizona - between Sanders and Lupton in Apache County. In addition to the approximately 22.5 miles of roadway grading and surfacing, the project included the construction of several bridges and drainage structures. The largest of these was the Querino Canyon Bridge, a concrete-decked steel trestle designed by AHD with three Pratt deck trusses supported by steel piers. In November, AHD awarded the contract for the entire project (Federal Aid Project 83-A) to Phoenix contractor F.D. Shufflebarger for $184,604.
Shufflebarger began work on the highway at year's end, and on the bridge in 1930. Using material manufactured by the Inland Steel Company, he completed the bridge behind schedule by December 1930. This section of the highway was reduced to county road status in the 1960s by the construction of Interstate 40, and the Querino Canyon Bridge remains intact, carrying local traffic on the Navajo Indian Reservation. An important crossing of rerouted U.S. 66, the Querino Canyon Bridge formed an integral link on one of America's primary transcontinental routes. It is one of four multi-span, deck-trussed trestles identified in the inventory (others: Dead Indian Canyon (0032); Black River (3128); and Sand Hollow Wash (8662)). All were erected between 1929 and 1934 at rural crossings in the northern half of the state, all spanned between 77' and 116', and all were designed and built either by AHD or by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, using industry-standard truss detailing. Picturesquely sited over the rugged canyon, the Querino Bridge is a typically configured example of early highway truss design.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.