Puente del Caño Carate, Spanning Cano Carate Channel, Arecibo, Arecibo Municipio, PR

Significance: Puente del Cano Carate (Bridge No. 53) is a two-lane, 3-span, 29.15-meter long and 8.03-meter wide steel beam bridge. Its ornamentation consists of balustrades and exposed aggregate art deco geometric features delineated by moldings, but has long lost its original cast iron decorative lamp posts. This structure was finished in 1927 as part of a very important highway project, the Variante de Arecibo, which for the first time carried a highway across the delta of the Rio Grande de Arecibo, part of which is the channel called Cano Perdomo. The Variante project, which solved important engineering problems of foundations and flooding, was designed by Puerto Rico's most prolific bridge engineer as a submersible causeway interrupted by five steel beam bridges and six smaller concrete box-culvert bridges. It connected the city of Arecibo and the western two thirds of Highway No. 2 with San Juan and the rest of the northern coast of Puerto Rico. This bridge has been judged as eligible for National Register listing by Puerto Rico's State Historic Conservation Office.
Survey number: HAER PR-40
Building/structure dates: 1927 Initial Construction