The Rockville Bridge and Grafton Ghost Town are just outside Zion National Park. The bridge was built for the National Park Service in 1924 to provide a link between Zion National Park and the North Rim area of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Rockville Bridge is 91 years old now and is showing its age. The Department of Transportation’s inspection of the bridge in 2012 revealed such deterioration that the bridge’s load rating was reduced from 25 to 14 tons and the Town of Rockville was put on notice that “something” needed to be done about the bridge.
Plans were made to put up a new bridge next to the old one but the town objected. In 2016, the Joint Highway Committee allocated $2,500,000 for the Rockville Bridge to be rehabilitated – with the condition that the Town submit a plan for an alternate route for a new road and bridge to cross the Virgin River at another location.
In March of 2017, the Town of Rockville finished raising the matching funds required for the Federal funding of the bridge restoration project. The project is scheduled to get underway in October of 2017.
The preceding three paragraphs are slightly modified excerpts from The Rockford Bridge Organization. The organization has a photo tour.
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