Built 1905 NRHP Reference # 95000847 Added to NRHP 19 July 1995 | Architect Ninlliat, Luis Opened 1905 | |
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Location Highway 6685, km 9.7
Ciales municipality, Puerto Rico Architectural style double intersection Pratt MPS Historic Bridges of Puerto Rico MPS Similar Aguadilla Ice Skating Arena, Paseo Tablado La Guancha, Las Cascadas Water Park, Dr Juan A Rivero Zoo | ||
Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano, also known as Puente Juan José Jiménez and listed as Bridge #321 in Puerto Rico's bridge inventory, was built in 1905 near Ciales, Puerto Rico. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
It was the first truss bridge built in Puerto Rico under the American administration (1898–1900) after the Spanish–American War.
The bridge has an 80 metres (260 ft) span crossing the Manati River. For Puerto Rico, the span is high, 44 feet (13 m) above the river, "above a spectacular curving canyon of vertical walls traversed by the Manati River". It is a rare type: a steel double intersection Pratt truss, above a concrete substructure, and is the only such highway bridge in Puerto Rico. Its roadway is 3.8 metres (12 ft) wide.
At least 10 railway bridges used the double intersection Pratt truss design, in the French-owned railway that was built during 1890-93 between San Juan and Ponce. Only one of those, across the Arecibo River, survived in 1994.