Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 5, 2010

The Kinzua Bridge was a railroad trestle that spanned Kinzua Creek in McKean County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The bridge was 301 feet (92 m) tall and 2,052 feet (625 m) long prior to its collapse. The bridge was originally built from iron in 1882 and was billed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", holding the record as the tallest railroad bridge in the world for two years. In 1900 the bridge was dismantled and simultaneously rebuilt out of steel to allow it to accommodate heavier trains. It stayed in commercial service until 1959 and was sold to the state government of Pennsylvania in 1963, becoming the centerpiece of a state park. Restoration of the bridge began in 2002, but before it was finished, a tornado struck the bridge in 2003 causing a large portion of the bridge to collapse. Contributing to the collapse was the failure, caused by corrosion, of the anchor bolts holding the bridge towers to their foundations. Before its collapse, the Kinzua Bridge was ranked as the fourth tallest railway bridge in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1982. The Kinzua Bridge is in Kinzua Bridge State Park off U.S. Route 6 near the borough of Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania. (more...)

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