You are approaching one of the true highlights of the parkway. The bridge, also known as the Natchez Trace Parkway Arches, is the first segmentally constructed concrete arch bridge in the United States. The arches are comprise of 122 hollow box segments, precast in nearby Franklin, each of which was about 9 point 8 ft long and weighed between 29 and 45 short tons. The deck consists of 196 precast post-tensioned trapezoidal box girder segments, each typically 8 point 5 ft long. The sections atop the crown of the arch are 13 foot deep. The foundations and piers of the bridge were cast in place.
The 582 foot long main span is symmetrical, while the 462 foot long second arch is not, due to the slope of the valley at the southern end of the bridge. The bridge is rare in that it does not use spandrel columns to support the deck from the arch. Rather than being evenly distributed along the arch's length, the weight of the bridge is concentrated at the crown of the arch. The lack of spandrel columns results in a clean, unencumbered appearance: it is termed a cathedral arch bridge.
The bridge has won many awards for its design, including a Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995, and an Award of Merit from the Federal Highway Administration in 1996. The Eleventh International Bridge Conference named it the single most outstanding achievement in the bridge industry for 1994. The bridge "impressed the... jury with its aesthetically striking double-arch design, which shows exceptional sensitivity to the historical context of the site."
