Location 3.97 mi W US Jct 119
Constructed 1918
Designer/Engineer R.V. Leeson, Daniel B. Luten
Builder convict workforce

The Arizona State Engineer designed the Clifton-Solomonville Road in 1917 to follow mountain ridges and thus avoid the need for numerous bridges and drainage structures along its length. Still, a significant crossing of the Gila River in Greenlee County was unavoidable. The preliminary survey showed the highway crossing the river more than 100 feet above the streambed with the road located on the high route. Accordingly, in March 1917, State Engineer Thomas Maddock designed a 312-foot steel deck arch bridge and budgeted $60,000 for its construction. When the bids came in far over budget, however, the design was scrapped. With its material rationing, World War I made steel construction impractical. Hence, the state retained R.V. Leeson, the Assistant Chief Engineer for the Topeka Bridge & Iron Company, to design a single 270-foot-long open-spandrel arch with concrete girder approaches.

In March 1918, though, the new state engineer, B.M. Atwood ordered the design changed to two equal-span Luten arches, and the highway route dropped closer to the river level. This was the design followed, and that year a convict workforce constructed the Gila River bridge for about $200 over the original budgeted amount. The bridge carried vehicular traffic on this regionally important route until the highway was redesigned. Today the Gila River Bridge functions in place with its arches in unaltered condition. In 1997 it was rehabilitated with the replacement of the guardrails and grandly rededicated as the Jose M. Subia Memorial Bridge, even though Mr. Subia's connection with the bridge was no more significant than the fact that he passed over it occasionally.

Had the state engineer built the single-span concrete arch, it would have been one of the longest of its kind in America. The steel arch, if built, would have been the second such structure built in Arizona - a harbinger of the nationally significant Navajo Bridge built a decade later. The Gila River Bridge, as built, was more conservative in its design than either of the two earlier iterations. Still, it is a visually striking and historically and technologically important structure. It was the most significant structure on the Clifton Solomonville Highway, an important early eastern Arizona route. The bridge is one of a handful of structures remaining in the state built using convict labor. Finally, the Gila River Bridge is an outstanding long-span example of the Luten arch design, patented and marketed by Daniel B. Luten. As such, it is one of the most significant vehicular bridges in Arizona.

Source
azdot.gov