Today's trip was to Royal Gorge Bridge. This is a place John has wanted to visit since me got out here. This was not really what we expected. It is basically a tourist trap.
About the highest Suspension Bridge
- Construction on the world's highest suspension bridge began June 5, 1929, and completed Nov. 1929
- Length: 1,260 feet (384 meters)
- Width: 18 feet (5 meters)
- Main Span: 880 feet (268 meters)
- Towers: 150 feet high (46 meters)
- 2,100 strands of No. 9 galvanized wire
- Weight of cables: 300 tons• 1,000 tons of steel in the floor of Bridge
- Walkway: made of 1,292 planks of deck; about 250 are replaced annually
- Original cost to build: $350,000 with a cost today of about $20 million
- Bridge will support in excess of two million pounds
- Listed on the National Historic Register
About the longest single-span Aerial Tram
- Built in 1968 at a cost of $350,000
- Length: 2,200 feet (671 meters)
- Height above Arkansas River: 1,178 feet (359 meters)
- Power: direct current motor
- Auxiliary gasoline emergency standby engine
- Maximum speed: 11.4 mph
- Capacity of cabin: 35 passengers
- Track cables weigh over seven tons each
- More than two miles of cables utilized in tramway system
- Safety: wind-warning gauges working at all times; tram will not operate during severe weather or gusty winds
About the world's steepest Incline Railway
- Construction began in 1930 and completed in 1931
- Length of incline: 1,550 feet (473 meters)
- 100% grade, 45-degree angle
- Powered by Otis Elevator with a completely automatic SCR drive system
- Standby emergency diesel engine
- Maximum speed: 11.4 mph• Rate of descent: 3 mph
- Weight of cars: 4,500 lbs.
- Travel time: 5.5 minutes each way
- Same engineering and construction crews that built the Bridge
- Safety: 19 manually operated stopping devices, also equipped with automatic governor to stop each car
- Listed on the National Historic Register
On our way home we stopped in Colorado Springs and walked around Garden of the Gods
