Rockville Bridge
Historic sites
A 217-foot steel Parker through truss over the Virgin River at Rockville, built in 1924 and the last of its type still carrying vehicles in Utah.
The last of its kind
The Rockville Bridge crosses the Virgin River in Rockville, a few minutes west of Springdale. It is the only surviving Parker through truss bridge in Utah still carrying road traffic — a single-lane span of 217 feet in twelve panels, on concrete abutments.
Why it was built
The National Park Service commissioned it in 1924 to link Zion National Park with the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The US Bureau of Public Roads designed it, the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company prefabricated the steel, and Ogden contractor C.F. Dinsmore erected it on site.
Between 1924 and 1930 this was the main automobile route between the two parks, cutting 33 miles off the journey. Every early motorist doing the grand tour of the Utah and Arizona parks crossed here.
Visiting
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 4 August 1995 and remains in use, so it is best appreciated from the riverbank rather than the deck. The bridge is single-lane: yield to oncoming traffic, and do not stop on it for photographs.
More on this: Grafton Ghost Town and a Zion day trip.
Frequently asked questions
Can you still drive over the Rockville Bridge?
Yes. It remains in service as a single-lane road bridge, the only Parker through truss in Utah still carrying vehicles. Yield to oncoming traffic and do not stop on the deck.
How old is the Rockville Bridge?
It was built in 1924 for the National Park Service to connect Zion with the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.