PADDOCK VIADUCT. The Paddock Viaduct, a Fort Worth bridge across the Trinity River, was built in 1914 and named in honor of Buckley Burton (B. B.) Paddock.qv Previously, travel over the river had been via low-water crossings and ferries, and later by a two-lane suspension bridge that was built in the 1890s. The Paddock Viaduct connects the downtown area with northern sections of the city. It was designed by the St. Louis firm of Benneke and Fay and was the first reinforced concrete arch in the nation to use self-supporting reinforcing steel. The bridge was later designated a Texas historic civil engineering landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It also received a Texas Historical Commissionqv marker in 1980.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ruby Schmidt, ed., Fort Worth and Tarrant County (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1984).
Diana J. Kleiner
