Tensaw River Bridge
(1926)
Mobile, Alabama

At the time of its demolition in 1995, the Tensaw River Bridge (HAER AL-104) was one of the oldest remaining lift bridges in Alabama and a critical component of the 10.5 mile-long Cochrane Causeway that connected Mobile and Baldwin counties over Mobile Bay. The construction of the causeway helped complete the “Spanish Trail”, a transcontinental highway designed to increase tourism and commerce on the Gulf of Mexico coast and westward. The bridge was designed by Harrington, Howard & Ash Consulting Engineers of Kansas City, Missouri, one of the most important early 20th century bridge designers in the United States. The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation was carried out for the Alabama Department of Transportation prior to the reconstruction of the causeway.