Thomas Viaduct@Relay — Attraction in Maryland

I was here to look at the bridge, so I wanted to avoid the $2 per person entrance fee. I parked just before the ticket booth and walked up towards the bridge. The sandy shore along the river looked inviting on this warm August day and I could hear the delighted screams of young people who were playing down there by the water. I was here to take pictures though, so I walked closer to the bridge, carefully watching for traffic. The road was very busy with cars coming and going, but thankfully everyone was courteous and took their time passing me. It was a nice time of day, with the lowering sun causing interesting shadows on the bridge and sparkles glistening on the water below it.

The only disappointment for me was that the informational signs about the bridge that used to be near the ranger station are no longer there. I intentionally looked for them and knew where they had been because of a description about them that I read for a virtual geocache, which is here. Also, there is a pokestop here that shows a photo of the signs and where they were in relation to the ticket booth/ranger station. I hope that this is only temporary and that the signs will soon be replaced with new ones so that others may learn about the history of this old, but really cool (and still functioning) railroad bridge.

I saw two trains cross over the bridge in the short time that I was there....

Instead of entering Patapsco State Park (right turn off of Rt. 1 coming south from I-195, then left on Park Entrance Road) where you have to pay the fee and only see a small part of the viaduct (there's no parking right at the viaduct and not much of it to see), you're better off continuing south on Rt 1 over the Patapsco River and then turning right onto Levering Avenue. If you follow Levering Avenue a short distance, it passes under one of the viaduct spans and you will see some limited roadside parking (maybe enough for 5-10 cars) where you can stop, get out, and get good pictures. To get some of the best photos, you have to cross the road and walk through some rather marshy ground underneath one of the viaduct spans to the riverside. ...

Amazing feat of civil engineering, right outside Baltimore. I would highly recommend going to Patapsco Valley State Park to see this structure. Definitely do some reading on the Viaduct before visiting as the history is interesting. It is almost 200 years old and was designed by an engineer who was trained to be a lawyer. It was designed by geometry alone, which was standard at the time, when they didn't consider stresses and loading on bridges. Amazing it's still standing despite not being designed for loading. The Viaduct was designated as a national historic civil engineering landmark for being the first multi-span arch bridge designed on a curved...