This structure is the oldest steel highway bridge in New Mexico, built in 1902 by Chaves County as part of the three-span Pecos River Bridge east of Roswell. There it connected the growing town with the smaller communities and ranches of the Eastern Plains. It remained in service until 1937, when the highway was relocated a few miles away due to severe flooding.
A few years later the New Mexico State Highway Department dismantled the Pecos River Bridge and moved the center span to a smaller secondary road over the Rio Hondo. There it linked smaller ranches to the town of Picacho and the adjacent highway to Roswell and Ruidoso.
The reassembled Rio Hondo Bridge at Picacho was cleaned, re-decked, and painted graphite green. The local residents of southeastern Lincoln County fondly referred to it as the "Green Bridge". It remained in use until 1989, when it was bypassed with a modern concrete bridge.
Lincoln County donated the bridge to the Museum in 2007. It was again dismantled and moved to the present site, where it has been restored to its historic condition.
(Text is repeated in Spanish on the second half of the plaque.)

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Show me all markers in:  Las Cruces, NM  |  Doña Ana County  |  88011  |  New Mexico  |  United States of America

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