During the late 1920s, private investors financed the construction of four separate international suspension bridges across the Rio Grande River with the intent to stimulate commercial development in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Joseph Erastus Pate together with the Starr County Bridge Company construction these bridges, which were located in the cities of Hidalgo, Mercedes, Roma and Zapata. However, the one between Roma, Texas, and Ciudad Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, which is called the Roma International Suspension Bridge (RISB) is the only one of the four still standing. The construction on the RISB began in 1927 and it opened in 1928. However, just fifty-one years later in 1979, it was taken out of service when a new wider concrete beam bridge was constructed along side of it.

Prior to the opening of the RISB, the city of Roma was in the middle of nowhere when a group of American investors contracted George Elmer Cole to build a bridge between Roma, Texas, and San Pedro de Roma, Tamaulipas, which is now Ciudad Miguel Alemán. Elmer Cole proved to be a star of the bridge-building industry, when the next year, after he had completed the RISB, Cole traveled to Canon City, Colorado and did the design work on the now famous Royal Gorge Bridge. The Royal Gorge Bridge was the highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2001, spanning the gorge nearly one thousand feet above the Arkansas River.

The city of Roma, Texas was once the westernmost navigable seaport on the Rio Grande, but by 1900, water drawn from the river upstream for irrigation had so severely lowered the water levels that river boat traffic ceased entirely.

Built on a historic ferry site to link the towns of Roma, Texas and San Pedro de Roma, Mexico, the Roma Bridge, the last surviving suspension bridge on the Rio Grande is in serious need of repair and has been on Preservation Texas Most Endangered list since 2011. Although renovation efforts have been under way for many years, communication difficulties between the Mexican and American sides of the bridge continually delay the project. A renewed effort in 2017 may have been able to restart the bridge restoration process.

The bridge is a two-lane, single-span, suspension bridge that rests on sandstone cliffs which date to the Eocene Epoch. Too, the American side comprises the southern boundary of the Roma Historic District.

The bridge hangs approximately 50 feet above the Rio Grande river, the towers rise another 45 feet above the bridge and are surmounted by saddles which support the main longitudinal cables. These cables are two feet in circumference and connected to appropriate anchorages at either end. According to a 1928 account, the main cables are anchored to U-bolts buried in 395 yards of concrete in an excavation 18 feet deep, 30 feet long, and 24 feet wide.

The RISB achieves significance for several reasons. To begin with, it is the most noteworthy, early 20th-century structure in the historic town of Roma-Los Saenz, one with both symbolic and commercial importance. Secondly, it is the only surviving international suspension bridge on the Rio Grande, and one of the few in the State of Texas. Finally, it is perhaps the most visible reminder of the enterprises of an important early Rio Grande Valley entrepreneur, Joseph Erastus Pate.

The bridge is located in Roma, Texas next to the Roma-Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge

Closed to all traffic when new bridge was built.

Closed to all traffic, bypassed when new bridge built.

Total Length: 629 feet;

Main Span Length: 629 feet;

Deck Width: 20 feet.

While camping at Falcon state park, I meet a man, named Jose, who is here with his family for the day, and after a short discussion, he tells me about a suspension bridge in Roma, Texas. A couple of days later, I drive to Roma to buy groceries and stop by the river to take photos of this bridge.