Work starts on historic suspension bridge

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Work got underway Monday on rehabilitation of the historic Waco Suspension Bridge.

The $12.4 million project, which is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete, involves updates to foundations, decking and railings.

Parts of Indian Spring Park and Martin Luther King, Jr., Park will be closed while the work is underway.

The project will also impact portions of the Waco Riverwalk on both sides of the the Brazos River as well as traffic lanes along University Parks Drive and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

The 475-foot bridge officially opened on Jan. 7, 1870.

At the time it was among the longest single-span suspension bridges in the world.

The company John A. Roebling and Sons, which later built the Brooklyn Bridge, started work on the Waco bridge in 1868.

Roebling designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge using the same techniques and style that were used in Waco.

Waco’s suspension bridge was finished in December 1869.

Ground was broken for the Brooklyn Bridge early the next year.

—KWTX