The historic Little Beaver Creek Bridge along old Route 66 west of Rolla, Missouri, was closed last week so a new bridge would replace it this spring.
According to an article in the Phelps County Focus, Martin Springs Drive (aka Route 66) leading to the bridge was closed on Jan. 20. The new, 90-foot-long bridge to replace the single-lane span will be completed no later than June 1.
An earlier article in the Focus reported that Gene Haile Excavating of California, Missouri, will build the new bridge for $563,000 using federal funds from the Off-System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program and a soft-match funds swap with Webster County.
The Little Beaver Creek Bridge sits about halfway between Rolla and Doolittle (map here) in the countryside. According to Bridgehunter.com, the span dates to 1926, the first year U.S. 66 was federally certified.
It had been rated as “poor” in its overall condition during its last inspection in 2018.
Bridgehunter.com noted the bridge and that section of road “was bypassed early enough that it was not modernized, so the bridge and the road to it are still in nearly original configuration.” That section was bypassed in 1953.
Here’s a video of the bridge:
OzarkWatch reported the bridge drew some notoriety in the early days of Route 66:
Not every development along the road was welcomed. “Dead Man’s Curve” between Rolla and St. James, the Beaver Creek bridge west of Rolla, and the Little Piney bridge at Arlington — the latter of which remains a dangerous spot on Interstate 44 — gained a fatal kind of recognition as common sites for automobile wrecks.
(Hat tip to Fred Wald; image of the Little Beaver Creek Bridge by James McCray via Bridgehunter.com)
Just one of tens of thousands of small bridges on thousands of ordinary roads. But they all contribute to the character of those roads. Replace the bridges and the roads’ character has changed. It is called progress.