A revered national landmark collides with nature’s most powerful forces in TRACKS ACROSS THE SKY, a documentary about Pennsylvania’s Kinzua Viaduct. Watch as a devastating twister takes aim at what was once the highest and longest railroad bridge in the world.

At 301 feet, the Kinzua Viaduct stood 24 feet taller and was completed a year ahead of the famous Brooklyn Bridge. But this symbol of American ingenuity rose out of the wilds of Pennsylvania, carrying coal and sightseers across the plunging Kinzua Gorge for more than 120 years. Brilliant engineers overcame incredible obstacles to design it. Bold entrepreneurs found the funds to build it. And 100 brave workers, many of them immigrants, completed the job in 94 days.

The original 1882 railroad bridge, manufactured of prefabricated wrought-iron in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was reconstructed of steel in 1900 to handle heavier loads. Some of the nation’s most celebrated engineers had a hand in its design. But no one anticipated a tornado packing gusts of 100 miles per hour. Not even Octave Chanute, chief engineer for the Erie Railroad, who would later teach the Wright brothers how to harness the wind.

Commissioned by the Allegheny National Forest Vacation Bureau and produced by award-winning documentary producers Lisa and Rich Gensheimer of Main Street Media, TRACKS ACROSS THE SKY spans the life of the Kinzua Viaduct, a National Historic Site and National Civil Engineering Landmark located in Mount Jewett, Pa.

For nine months the filmmakers searched for archival photos and documents, discovering the original linen tracings of the 1882 and 1900 bridge designs at the Smithsonian and rich biographical details about the bridge builders in public and private collections. They talked with engineers, interviewed historians, and documented the $12 million emergency repair project begun in 2002 by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources after an inspection deemed the bridge unsafe.

Soon the Knox & Kane Railroad’s excursion train would once again roll across the track, carrying 40,000 visitors a year to Kinzua Bridge State Park.

Then came word that the beloved bridge was hit broadside by an F-1 tornado on July 21, 2003, a few months short of being saved. With incredible access to the site the day after the storm, the filmmakers surveyed the destruction, their story forever changed by renegade winds.

TRACKS ACROSS THE SKY is a production of Main Street Media, Inc. in partnership with the Allegheny National Forest Vacation Bureau and Penn State Public Broadcasting, with partial funding from the Pennsylvania Public Television Network. The program was made possible by grants from the Pennsylvania Tourism Office; LEDA Funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Federal State Partner for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

TRACKS ACROSS THE SKY will be available on VHS and DVD from Penn State Media Sales following the television broadcast. The DVD includes 20 minutes of special features, including a collection of rare photographs and commentary from the American Society of Civil Engineers; The Historic American Engineering Record of the National Park Service; the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and the Allegheny National Forest Vacation Bureau. Call toll free 1-800-770-2111 or order online at MediaSales.psu.edu. A portion of the proceeds benefits the repairs underway at Kinzua Bridge State Park.