The Genesee Park Interchange is a distinctive historic bridge in Jefferson County that carries US 40 over I-70 near Genesee Park. Built in 1970, the bridge is a continuous steel box girder structure and one of Colorado’s most recognizable modern highway bridges. Known to many as the “Picture Bridge,” the Genesee Park Interchange frames a dramatic westward view toward the Rocky Mountains and has become a familiar landmark for travelers heading into the foothills and mountains from the Denver metropolitan area.
The bridge is significant for its engineering as the first continuous steel box girder bridge constructed in Colorado. Its design demonstrates an innovative approach to an overpass structure, particularly because the absence of a central pier creates an open view corridor toward the Continental Divide. This design choice gives the bridge both engineering and visual significance. Rather than functioning only as a utilitarian highway crossing, the Genesee Park Interchange contributes to the experience of travel along I-70 by creating a gateway view into the mountains.
The Genesee Park Interchange is also significant within the history of Colorado’s Interstate-era transportation development. By the late twentieth century, Colorado’s highway system required bridges that could accommodate larger roadways, heavier traffic, and more complex grade separations. Steel box girder bridges provided engineers with a way to span wider spaces while maintaining a relatively shallow structural depth. At Genesee, that engineering solution produced a bridge that is both practical and visually memorable.
The bridge’s character-defining features include its continuous steel box girder superstructure and anchored short hold-down spans, which are not readily visible to travelers. The bridge’s railings also appear to be original. Together, these features convey the bridge’s design, period of construction, and engineering significance. The low span-to-depth ratio of the main span and the absence of a central pier are especially important to the bridge’s distinctive appearance and the open mountain view it preserves.
Although the Genesee Park Interchange is part of the Interstate Highway System, it has been identified as an exception to the general exemption for Interstate resources and has been recognized as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Its significance comes not only from its age, but from its role as an early and important example of continuous steel box girder bridge construction in Colorado. It is also a highly visible bridge, passed by thousands of travelers and frequently associated with the mountain approach along I-70.
As part of the Historic Bridges of Colorado preservation effort, the Genesee Park Interchange has been identified by the Colorado Department of Transportation as a preservation-priority bridge. CDOT’s long-term preservation approach recognizes that historic bridges must continue to serve transportation needs while also retaining the features that make them significant. For the Genesee Park Interchange, future preservation considerations may include ongoing maintenance, railing treatment, and interpretation of the bridge’s engineering and visual importance.
The Genesee Park Interchange represents a later chapter in Colorado’s historic bridge development. While many of the state’s most familiar historic bridges are early concrete arches, steel trusses, or New Deal-era public works structures, this bridge reflects the technological ambition of the Interstate period. Its preservation helps broaden the public understanding of historic bridges by recognizing that modern highway structures can also possess exceptional design, engineering, and cultural value.
This bridge is one of the 23 preservation-priority bridges featured in Colorado Preservation, Inc.’s Historic Bridges of Colorado listing. View the full Historic Bridges of Colorado overview to learn more about the statewide preservation effort.