History
Congress first proposed a bridge at the site of the current structure on May 24, 1886. The resolution required that the United States Department of War study the feasibility of a bridge at the site, and a 24 ft wide design was proposed later that year. The following year, the War Department suggested a "Lincoln-Grant Memorial Bridge". Congress again passed a resolution requesting another design, and in late 1887 the department proposed a "General Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Bridge". The new bridge would be a suspension bridge 105 feet (32 m) high, with 98 feet (30 m) of clearance below it. Designs for the bridge at this time included from a bare steel truss bridge, a low masonry arch bridge, and a Romanesque Revival structure with two massive central towers, two barbicans on each end, and excessively ornamentation. A survey of the bedrock in the Potomac River was undertaken in 1898,which led Congress to fund a design competition in 1899. Four designs for "colossal" bridges with massive triumphal arches over the center were submitted.
Although Congress chose a design by William H. Burr (assisted by Edward Casey, a designer of the Taft Bridge), no action was taken to construct the bridge. In 1901 a private group composed of nationally-known bridge designers proposed that the bridge extend New York Avenue NW (which then ended at 23rd Street NW) over the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery, but once more Congress did not act.
Read more about this topic: Arlington Memorial Bridge
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