The county built the Faust Street Bridge within feet of the Guadalupe River crossing of the Old San Antonio Road (or Camino Real). The bridge is located in the city of New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. The county selected the Faust Street site for the bridge because of its strategic location on this important regional route. Prior to the completion of the bridge in 1887, travelers often waited for long periods of time at this crossing until the waters were low enough to ford. According to the History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas 1844-1946, agricultural products were brought to the New Braunfels market over the Faust Street Bridge from as far away as Johnson City. The bridge also served as a major crossing for all traffic between Austin to San Antonio from 1887 to 1934. In 1917, the newly created Texas Highway Department designated the structure to serve as part of State Highway 2, the predecessor route to US 81 and IH 35. The Faust Street Bridge accommodated highway traffic between Dallas-Austin-San Antonio until 1934 when the highway department completed a "new" concrete arch highway bridge at the foot of San Antonio Street. The Faust Street Bridge is important for its long history serving transportation needs in the region and for its role as a state highway bridge from 1917 to 1934. The monumental structure has additional significance as one of few early landmarks surviving along the Old San Antonio Road. In 1978, the Faust Street Bridge was closed to local traffic due to fire damage. Now the Majestic structure has been reopened to carry pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Faust Street Bridge is also a rare type structure that is an extremely significant engineering accomplishment for its time. The structure is one of a very small number of large, multiple-span Whipple truss bridges remaining in the country and is the most complex and intact example of a Whipple truss roadway bridge surviving in Texas. While six Whipple roadway trusses remain in the state, the Faust Street Bridge is the only multiple-span example surviving at its original site.
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