The other half of the Route 66 Twin Bridges that once stood near Catoosa, Oklahoma, will be torn down starting sometime next year.
KJRH-TV in nearby Tulsa reported the Oklahoma Department of Transportation awarded a $7.2 million contract to replace the 1956 bridge on eastbound Route 66.
The bridge replacement project is expected to begin in April and finish in early 2026, the same year as Route 66’s centennial.
The report contained this factoid:
The SH-66 bridge is one of only 7 truss bridges left across the state. ODOT says at one point there were more than 100 of them. The agency says the bridge is fracture critical meaning if any part of the truss were to crack the whole thing would need to be shut down.
ODOT says this is a part of an effort to replace structurally deficient bridges across the state.
One of the truss bridges is the Pony Bridge near Bridgeport, which was widened but the trusses were preserved and reattached to the span.
Two years ago, ODOT held a virtual open house to discuss various options for the 1956 bridge.
The westbound lanes over the creek once contained a 1936 bridge that was torn down and replaced. Remnant trusses of that span were placed at a park near the creek and at the Molly’s Landing restaurant entrance (now closed due to a fire last year).
(Image of the eastbound Bird Creek Bridge near Catoosa, Oklahoma, in 2010 by gregwest98 via Flickr)