Clifton’s Zorrilla Bridge is closed to traffic

Walt Mares Photo/Gila Herald: The historic Zorrilla Bridge in Clifton is closed for repairs and other renovation. It was closed March 30 and is scheduled to reopen in September. The bridge is the primary access route to Eastside Clifton. The area is now accessible only through a detour along Park Avenue.

By Walt Mares

Following a two-week delay, the Zorrilla Bridge that spans the San Francisco River in Clifton has been closed to traffic. The closing is well-marked by a big white sign and orange markers near the bridge. There are also large orange signs with black lettering along U.S. 191, the town’s main thoroughfare, advising motorists of a detour. 

The signs will be gone and the bridge reopened in September.

The bridge was originally scheduled for closing in late March but was held up by paperwork. Clifton Town Manager Rudy Perez said the contractor had requested additional information about the bridge from the Arizona Department of Transportation but did not receive it until more than a week later. Banicki Construction, the contractor, will be overseeing the bridge project and will have sub-contractors working under it, Perez said. 

While the bridge is closed to Eastside traffic, Frisco Avenue, which intersects with Zorrilla Street, remains open to traffic. Frisco Avenue leads to the popular and much-used North Clifton RV Park. There is also a playground a large grassy area for recreation. The river flows alongside the park.

The $2.7 million Zorrilla Bridge project involves painting over the existing lead-based, silver-colored paint, which has covered the bridge for a very long time. How many years the silver paint job has covered the bridge is unknown. The structure is 102 years old and has withstood major flooding of the San Francisco River. Between Oct. 1-2, 1983, floodwaters ripped through the narrow river canyon with a volume at times as high as 90,000 cubic feet per second. 

The bridge was closed off for about six months immediately after the flood but was later inspected by engineers and reopened.

The flood either badly damaged or laid waste to hundreds of homes and many businesses in North Clifton, Eastside and South Clifton. 

Photo By Walt Mares: The Zorilla Bridge spans the San Francisco River.

The Zorrilla Bridge is the main route for access to Eastside. The only other road leading there is narrow Park Avene. It barely accommodates two-way traffic. One side of the road runs along a bank of the San Francisco River while on the other side there are steep, rocky cliffs from which large rocks or boulders often fall onto the highway during or immediately after a heavy rainstorm. 

 Rocks bigger than passenger vehicles have been known to fall on the road.

A second critical phase of the bridge renovation projects is replacing the road on the bridge. At present, if something as large as a pickup truck crosses it there is a rattling sound. Supports under the road will be removed and replaced with much more solid ones. Also, new pavement will be laid.

Most of the money is coming from an off-main-system transportation grant via ADOT. The town’s share is about $336,000.

Walt Mares Photo/Gila Herald: With the closing of the Zorrilla Bridge, those traveling northbound on U.S. 191 and wishing to gain access to Eastside Clifton should take an immediate right at the end of the Coronado Bridge on which side the Jurassic flood gates are located.

There are only two businesses in Eastside, The Clifton Hotel, and the Blue Door Sanctuary, a bed and breakfast. The hotel has a full bar but the bar is temporarily closed due to the existing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. It and the Blue Door are historic structures. The Blue Door was once the Masonic Lodge, which closed earlier this century. 

There are photographs of the Clifton Hotel showing it in its heyday in the early 20th century when transportation included horses and buggies and wooden wagons. It lay dormant for several decades and became nothing more than a shell of a building. It was recently fully renovated and opened for business. 

Both Eastside businesses are the most recent examples of a historic preservation effort that began in Clifton in the mid-1990s. The town has established a historic preservation commission and has historic preservation laws on its books.

The town was founded in 1873 and 2023 will mark its 150th year of existence as one of Arizona’s pioneer mining towns that are still strongly in existence.