Gibraltar Road Bridge
What should roads look like? We seldom think about the emergence of the style of the roads or their width or shape. Most often we use our streets, roads and highways and think little about why they have the shape and style that they have.
The nation’s railroads were overwhelmed by traffic during World War I and could not move munitions efficiently. Claiming that the Constitution gave him the right to do so, President Woodrow Wilson took over the nation’s railroads as of noon December 28, 1917. The federal government returned railroads to their owners at the end of March, 1920. Because railroads could not efficiently move freight, trucks began to carry freight from one city to another. Many trucks were built and sold before World War I but they were almost all used for local and suburban delivery. The success of longer distant trucking during World War I not only boosted Detroit’s vehicle industry but led to calls for road construction across the nation. States and local governments, rather than the federal government, assumed the responsibility for building roads. Many of the roads were simple, functional and built for the lowest cost. Basically they were no more than a paving of previously used trails.
There was also an interest in building appealing
roads. Throughout Long Island, you can drive on parkways which were designed
so that the paved
lanes for cars
were surrounded by gree
n embankments. Well into the 1920s, cars had limited
horsepower and few individuals drove long distances so roads did not have to
be designed for 60 or 75 miles per hour travel. The idea of expressways handling
substantial volumes of traffic for long distances emerged with the National
Socialists and their autobahns in Germany in the late 1930s. A very clear example
of the parkway like design for roads in this area is the Edward Hines Drive
that was built in the 1930s and extends from Northfield to Detroit and Dearborn
Heights. Michigan’s government went through usual gymnastics about the
financing and administration of highways but, by the early 1920s, counties
had road commissions that were responsible for building and maintaining intercity
roads in the county. Beginning in about 1924, the Wayne County Road Commission
built roads throughout the county. Gibraltar Road was designed to be ascetically
appealing as well as functional. Even in this first decade of the Twentieth
First Century, when you drive west on Gibraltar from the location where the
Detroit River joins Lake Erie, you see a few elements of appealing design.
The road building efforts of the Wayne County Road Commission continued until
about 1932 when the Depression shut down this activity.
The bridge you see pictured above carries Middle Gibraltar Road across Waterway Canal. It is a reinforced concrete cantilevered T-beam bridge that was designed to be in keeping with the surrounding. Notice the gentle rise of this bridge. It is a low sweeping arch bridge that fits well with this area. Small, but not large, craft can sail or motor along the canal under this bridge.
Chief Designer: F. H. Chapin, Wayne County Department of Public Works
Date of construction: 1932
Style: Reinforced concrete cantilevered arch span
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Listed, P25, 538
State of Michigan Historical Marker: Never put in place
National Register of Historic Sites: Listed February 10, 2000. This structure
is listed with the Historic Highway Bridges of Michigan Multiple Parcel Submission.
Use in 2007: Bridge for automobile traffic
Photograph: November 4, 2007
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