Historic Four Corners bridge to reopen next week

SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. — A historic bridge in the Four Corners will reopen next week after it has been closed for years and was recently renovated.

Back in the 1980s, local historian and author Connie Nordstrum lived in a house that sits on the Animas River near the historic Cedar Hills Bridge.

“Structurally, they didn’t have to do much to it. They had to put new flooring down,” she said.

The Cedar Hills Bridge looks a little bit different now. That is because San Juan County ponied up the money to give the bridge a facelift.

“The bridge was the entryway into San Juan County from the north and for many years it was the only bridge in the county,” Nordstrum said.

The bridge has been around since the 1890s. The first pioneers built it to cross the Animas River.

It became the major highway, along with two others, until 1911.

“There was horrendous earth-shattering flood all down the Animas River Valley,” Nordstrum said.

Floodwaters washed out bridges across the county, including the Cedar Hills Bridge. Then, three years later, crews rebuilt it.

“The actual citizens donated their time and effort to prepare the access point on both sides,” Nordstrum said.

More than a century later, the bridge is no longer the main road. It turned into a pedestrian walkway.

Since 2017, it has been closed. Next week, it will reopen for people to cross this very important piece of history.

“It is a historic site that many people just felt needed to be preserved,” Nordstrum said.