Paddock Viaduct
a.k.a. Main Street Bridge
Main St., Fort Worth, TXThe Paddock Viaduct was the first large bridge erected in the United States in which the self-supporting reinforcement design was employed. In its design the steel reinforcement for the arches supported itself under its own strength while forms were temporarily placed around them and concrete poured within the forms around the steel arches. This design obviated the need for falsework in the stream bed of the Trinity River over which the bridge was built. Although self-supporting reinforcement concrete bridges had been erected in Europe since 1897, the Paddock Viaduct was the first such large structure in the United States. Since its completion in 1914, the Paddock Viaduct has provided the downtown business district of Fort Worth, Texas, with dependable communication with the northern portions of the city. It remains in excellent condition and has had only superficial alterations on its roadway and sidewalk areas.
Local significance of the structure:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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.