Here are some that may serve as inspiration for the new layout:

Great photos..!! I like that "art nouveau" one. What purpose did that "shed-on-the-side" serve on that truss bridge..??

The bridge is one of those "rotating bridges". I guess the shed held the motors. The support at the middle has a circular rail and the bridge has rollers on it so it could turn 90 degrees so boats could go through. It pretty much looked like it hadn't rotated in years. Rust all over the rails and rollers.

great photos! Almost inspiring me to take a road trip...

Great pictures Gary. A lot of interesting things to model. You will be busy for many years to come.
Charlie

Gary....We had one of those here in Brownsville, back in the days when the Rio Grande was a river and REAL boats sailed up it. Nowadays you're lucky if you can float a canoe. So that bridge has also been "fixed" in place...

Many years ago, boats navigated the ship channel all the way to downtown Houston. Of course, these were smaller boats, not the gigantic vessels of today. As the port was expanded and the ships got larger, the freight traffic into the city stopped, and there was no need for that bridge to be operable any more.

It is still a great structure, and very "railroady". I don't have a place on my layout to model it though. I'll be doing some smaller bridges.