Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano

Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location of the bridge in Puerto Rico
Location	Highway 6685, km 9.7 Ciales municipality, Puerto Rico
Coordinates
Built	1905
Architect	Ninlliat, Luis
Architectural style	double intersection Pratt
MPS	Historic Bridges of Puerto Rico MPS
NRHP Reference #	95000847
Added to NRHP	July 19, 1995

Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano, also known as Puente Juan José Jiménez and listed as Bridge #321 in Puerto Rico's bridge inventory, was built in 1905 near Ciales, Puerto Rico. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

It was the first truss bridge built in Puerto Rico under the American administration (1898-1900) after the Spanish-American War.

The bridge has an 80 metres (260 ft) span crossing the Manati River. For Puerto Rico, the span is high, 44 feet (13 m) above the river, "above a spectacular curving canyon of vertical walls traversed by the Manati River". It is a rare type: a steel double intersection Pratt truss, above a concrete substructure, and is the only such highway bridge in Puerto Rico. Its roadway is 3.8 metres (12 ft) wide.

At least 10 railway bridges used the double intersection Pratt truss design, in the French-owned railway that was built during 1890-93 between San Juan and Ponce. Only one of those, across the Arecibo River, survived in 1994.

External links

• Summary sheet from the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office (Spanish)
• Historic Bridges of Puerto Rico MPS, National Register of Historic Places cover documentation