{"id":43885,"date":"2021-11-07T01:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-07T01:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-celebrates-restoration-of-historical-bridge\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:16:22","slug":"mancos-celebrates-restoration-of-historical-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-celebrates-restoration-of-historical-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos celebrates restoration of historical bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

About 100 Mancos residents congregated on Main Street Saturday to usher in the completed renovations of the town\u2019s historical bridge.<\/p>\n

The $2 million project, originally slated to conclude Aug. 31, saw the bridge become safer, wider and more accommodating to pedestrians with the addition of sidewalks \u2014 all while still honoring the original design aesthetic.<\/p>\n

First built in 1912, visitors were encouraged to dress in period garb to honor the century-old roots of the structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just breathtaking,\u201d said Mayor Queenie Barz of the finalized project.<\/p>\n

\"From
From left: Mayor Ellen \u201cQueenie\u201d Barz, Michelle Snook, Steve Peters, Nanci Pearlstein, Brookie Medicine Eagle<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

She became nostalgic discussing her family\u2019s long-embedded history in the town, and what it means to her to be a part of the new bridge\u2019s creation, which has been five years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just touches your heart to feel the commitment from the community and the town,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Eventgoer Michelle Snook noted that the bridge is the center of Mancos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where everyone congregates,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to cross it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Horn of SEH Engineering and principal designer of the project, said the design process began in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promised her (Town Administrator Heather Alvarez) I\u2019d give her a beautiful bridge,\u201d he said. \u201cI had no idea what that meant.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an integral part of Horn\u2019s process to stay true to the history and surroundings of the bridge \u2014 and his ideas were solidified with the help of a few glasses of wine along the way, he said.<\/p>\n

Colored concrete on the bridge mimics the brick of the Bauer Bank Building \u2013 although it took about six concrete test pours to perfect emulation, Horn said.<\/p>\n

Reinforced steel from the original bridge girders now comprise the railways.<\/p>\n

Hidden in the bridge\u2019s framework is a flaw \u2013 and it\u2019s not an accident.<\/p>\n

Horn made the decision \u2013 along with construction contractors Dave & Lana Waters \u2013 to include an imperfection in the bridge\u2019s design to honor a tradition present in several cultures.<\/p>\n

In Japan, the concept of \u201cwabi sabi\u201d honors imperfection, and flaws are intentionally introduced into design works. Another example, Horn said, is Navajo weavers purposely integrating irregularities into their rug designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea is you don\u2019t want to create perfection to anger the gods,\u201d Horn said.<\/p>\n

Horn\u2019s wife, Lynn Hughes, collected pieces of paper from participants competing to guess the flaw.<\/p>\n

While most of the bridge\u2019s reinforced steel railway pillars twist in opposite directions, two, pictured below, spiral in the same direction.<\/p>\n

\"While
While the most of the bridge\u2019s reinforced steel railway pillars twist in opposite directions, two, pictured below, spiral in the same direction.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lamps have also been ordered to line the bridge, Barz said.<\/p>\n

Hughes said that tests of the old bridge\u2019s concrete proved it immediately necessary to reconstruct the bridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were amazed that just a little car didn\u2019t knock it down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The bridge\u2019s six-month closure impacted local businesses.<\/p>\n

For instance, Melissa Blaine, one of three Absolute Bakery and Cafe owners, said that bakery employees and supply trucks will now have easier access to the establishment.<\/p>\n

\"Melissa
Melissa Blaine, one of three Absolute Bakery and Cafe owners, said this is the first car she\u2019s seen directly outside of the business since the Main Street Bridge closed for construction in May.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to have people walk by the door again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The bakery stayed open an extra hour Saturday for the bridge-related festivities, and Fencline Cider served drinks outside beginning at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Musician Lynne Belle Lewis performed Western-style music for those strolling the new bridge for the first time, and Art Pulis and his horse Avatar offered carriage rides.<\/p>\n

A $1 million grant from CDOT, a $193,000 grant from the Department of Local Affairs and $820,634 from the town of Mancos funded the endeavor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

reopens after six months <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[459,28,167,83,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-construction-and-property","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85885,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43885\/revisions\/85885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43885"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}