{"nrhp_refnum":"76002028","name":"Galveston Causeway","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Spans Galveston Bay from Virginia Point to Galveston Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"Galveston","county":"Galveston County","state":"TX","lat":29.30030995900003,"lon":-94.89232595223105,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Economics","Engineering","Transportation","Communications","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A railroad causeway of reinforced concrete arches with a steel Scherzer rolling lift drawbridge, crossing Galveston Bay from Virginia Point on the mainland to Galveston Island, Texas. It was built 1909-1912 and rebuilt 1917-1922.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it was the first successful bridge across Galveston Bay and the first reliable transportation and communications link between Galveston and the mainland. It carried rail, interurban and highway traffic and a fresh water main, supporting the city's port commerce after the 1900 hurricane. Its Scherzer rolling lift span was the largest of its kind in the world in 1912.","narrative":"Spanning Galveston Bay between Virginia Point and Galveston Island, this causeway was built from 1909 to 1912 by Galveston County and a group of railway companies. It originally combined earthen embankments, 28 reinforced concrete arches and a steel Scherzer rolling lift drawbridge, then the largest of its type in the world. The structure carried a county highway, electric interurban tracks and steam railroad tracks, and it also enclosed a 30-inch fresh water main. The 1915 hurricane washed out most of the earthen approaches, leaving the arch and draw sections standing. Reconstruction from 1917 to 1922 replaced the embankments with concrete arches, producing the continuous arched bridge seen today, with 51 arches on the mainland end and 28 on the island end. Before it opened, a single-track trestle was the only connection to the mainland, which limited commerce. The causeway was listed as the first successful bridge across Galveston Bay and continues to carry rail traffic.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Designed by the Concrete Steel Engineering Co., New York; concrete and earth portion built by A.M. Blodgett Construction Co., Kansas City, Mo.; steel draw span built by Penn Bridge Co., Beaver Falls, Penn.","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use for railroad traffic; the old county highway portion serves as a railroad service road.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.491425-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/52/9720/40972052/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/76002028.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002028/8bf4ac0b67-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002028/8bf4ac0b67-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nsaum75","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Causeway,_Galveston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nsaum75</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Causeway,_Galveston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972052","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Causeway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5519420"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/galveston-county/galveston-causeway-76002028/"}