Zaracillo Canyon Bridge is a historic concrete slab and girder bridge in Las Animas County, Colorado. Built in 1936, the bridge carries SH 12 over Zaracillo Canyon along the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway. It has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the preservation-priority bridges identified through the Historic Bridges of Colorado effort.
The bridge was constructed during the Great Depression, when the Works Progress Administration supported public infrastructure projects across Colorado and the United States. The WPA created jobs while funding and building roads, bridges, culverts, public buildings, parks, and other civic improvements. In southeastern Colorado, WPA bridge projects were especially important after flooding in the mid-1930s damaged or destroyed numerous crossings, creating an urgent need for transportation improvements.
Zaracillo Canyon Bridge is significant for its association with the WPA and with Depression-era public works construction. The bridge reflects how federal work-relief programs helped improve rural highways while also putting local labor to work during a period of economic hardship. Like many WPA resources, it combines practical engineering with design features that give the structure a strong historic and visual character.
The bridge is also significant for its engineering. CDOT identifies Zaracillo Canyon Bridge as important because it displays a combination of standard Colorado Highway Department features and Rustic design characteristics associated with WPA bridge work. Its concrete deck girder superstructure is especially notable because concrete superstructures of this type are unusual among WPA-built bridges in Colorado.
A concrete slab and girder bridge uses reinforced concrete components to carry the roadway deck and distribute traffic loads to the bridge supports. This type of bridge could be durable and practical for smaller to medium-sized crossings, but Zaracillo Canyon Bridge is distinguished by the way its concrete structure is paired with substantial stone masonry features. Those stone elements give the bridge a stronger visual presence than a purely utilitarian concrete highway bridge.
The bridge’s character-defining features include its concrete deck girder superstructure, stone masonry abutments, stone masonry wingwalls, and stone masonry piers. These features help convey the bridge’s WPA-era design and its relationship to the surrounding canyon landscape. The bridge’s original doghouse-style concrete railings also contribute to its historic character and represent a Colorado Highway Department standard railing design that is no longer used today.
Zaracillo Canyon Bridge has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of Government for its association with the WPA, and under Criterion C in the area of Engineering for its unusual bridge type and design. Its significance rests on both the public works history of its construction and the way its engineering and masonry features reflect WPA-era bridge design in Colorado.
As part of the Historic Bridges of Colorado preservation effort, Zaracillo Canyon Bridge has been identified as a preservation-priority bridge. CDOT selected the bridge for Group B, recommending development of an individual bridge management plan because it represents a significant trend in bridge building and is considered a good example of its type. The bridge’s combination of concrete construction, stone masonry, and Rustic design makes it an important preservation candidate.
The bridge also presents interesting preservation planning opportunities. CDOT noted that planning work along the SH 12 corridor had identified bicycle accommodations as a potential alternative. Because Zaracillo Canyon Bridge is not wide enough to support both motorized and non-motorized traffic, conversion to a bicycle or pedestrian structure has been discussed as one possible way to preserve the bridge while addressing transportation needs along the corridor.
Preserving Zaracillo Canyon Bridge requires attention to its concrete superstructure, stone masonry elements, original railings, and canyon setting. The bridge remains part of an active transportation corridor, so preservation planning must balance roadway safety, maintenance, and historic integrity. Its stone masonry features are especially important because they are central to the bridge’s WPA character and visual identity.
Zaracillo Canyon Bridge helps tell a broader story about Colorado’s WPA-era infrastructure. It demonstrates how a bridge could serve a practical transportation purpose while also reflecting craftsmanship, public investment, and design sensitivity. Its continued preservation would help keep this Depression-era chapter of southeastern Colorado’s transportation history visible along SH 12.
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.