Before Twin Falls ID Had The Perrine Bridge; It Was A Toll Bridge

The more you know, almost 94 years ago the bridge that connected now Twin Falls and Jerome was actually a toll bridge. It was originally named the Twin Falls-Jerome Intercounty Bridge.

According to the Twin Falls Visitor Center when they shared some history about the once upon a time toll bridge, it was the highest bridge in the world at the time and privately financed costing $750 thousand dollars. That is a ton of money in today's world, I have no idea what that would translate to today but I imagine a lot.

The toll part of the bridge was eliminated in 1940 and the state of Idaho purchased the bridge for $482 thousand dollars. I mean, that is a great investment I guess, they only had to pay a little over half of what it cost to build.

The original toll bridge had to be destroyed and updated by the 1970s because it was unable to take the heavy loads and the traffic. That is when they created the current Perrine Bridge that cost a whopping $10.56 million dollars and was dedicated in July of 1976.

The old bridge was disassembled, but we definitely need to get a second bridge across the canyon. That would help so much. Still very interesting to see the history and the photos behind the old Snake River Canyon Toll Bridge.

I can't imagine Idahoans being super thrilled to have to pay to commute.