Mauretta B. Thomas Pinedale Memorial Bridge

The Mauretta B. Thomas Pinedale Memorial Bridge crosses Pinedale Wash in the small White Mountains community of Pinedale, in Navajo County, and holds the distinction of being the only covered bridge in Arizona still open to vehicle traffic. It was built in 1976 as part of the town's contribution to the United States Bicentennial, a project championed by community member Mauretta B. Thomas, who served on Pinedale's bicentennial committee and proposed both the covered bridge and the planting of pine trees along the lane leading north to the highway as worthwhile ways for the small town to mark the anniversary.

The bridge is an unusual sight in a state better known for adobe and stone construction than New England-style timber crossings, a deliberate architectural nod to a tradition Arizona never really had. Named in Thomas's honor after her death, the bridge has weathered nearly five decades of Arizona's extreme seasonal swings — scorching high-desert summers and snowy White Mountains winters alike — and according to Navajo County records, it remains the state's only drivable covered bridge, a small but enduring piece of small-town civic pride.