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Old River Bridge

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Photos 

Overview

Photo taken August 2001 by Wayne Kizziar

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Two-span through truss bridge over Saline River on the Old Military Road near Benton
Location
Saline County, Arkansas
Status
Abandoned with portions of deck missing
History
Built 1899 by the Youngstown Bridge Co. of Youngstown, Ohio; closed to traffic in 1974
Builder
- Youngstown Bridge Co. of Youngstown, Ohio
Design
Two pin-connected, 6-panel Pratt through trusses with a wooden deck
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 130.0 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 1977
Approximate latitude, longitude
+34.54087, -92.60694   (decimal degrees)
34°32'27" N, 92°36'25" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/536066/3822199 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Benton
Inventory numbers
NRHP 77000277 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 10559 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log 

  • May 12, 2012: New photo from Cody Lewis
  • May 17, 2008: New photos from Wayne Kizziar

Sources 

Comments 

Old River Bridge
Posted April 5, 2013, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)
Old River Bridge
Posted March 17, 2013, by Carla Hardwick (hardwick [at] creationsensation [dot] com)

http://www.facebook.com/SalineCrossing?ref=ts&fref=ts For the latest information about efforts to preserve the bridge and build a regional park on the location, join this facebook page.

There will be an event to raise awareness of the bridge in May, 2013 with tours of the land set aside around the bridge for the park.

Old River Bridge
Posted May 12, 2012, by Cody Lewis (lewismulisha [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Phillip: It is a restricted area, however when I asked a policeman for directions, he said it's tucked down in the woods and nobody ever calls the cops. He said that the police don't even patrol down there because it's not city property, it's Union Pacific Property.

Old River Bridge
Posted October 14, 2011, by Phillip (Phillip1743 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Tried to visit this bridge today, I notice the roads are blocked off at least river street was. Does anyone know if this area is prohibited? Thought about going past the gate on foot, but decided not to. Is there another way to get down there?

Old River Bridge
Posted March 10, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

A group supporting preservation invites the public to a tour of this bridge: http://www.bentoncourier.com/content/view/254483/1/

Old River Bridge
Posted May 13, 2010, by Jenna (jenna [at] thomasins [dot] net)

I went down to the bridge this afternoon. After seeing an article about trying to make it a historic site and reusable earlier this year, I've been curious about what it looks like. It would take a lot of work to make it reuseable again. It is beautiful down there though.

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Old River Bridge
Posted July 18, 2009, by bradley widding (widding [at] gmail [dot] com)

visted this bridge for the first time 7.18.09 from the benton side. i understand you can no longer approach from the haskel side as it has been blocked off. people have been vandalizing the pump station. most of the deck is gone. some areas are even starting to collapse. you cannot get "onto" the bridge itself as the approach is gone. the thing that struck me about the bridge is its size and height. it's massive.

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Old River Bridge
Posted February 24, 2007, by Fred Garcia (fandsgarcia [at] gmail [dot] com)

Visited this bridge 29 October 2006 about 5:30 pm. Not able to get on bridge itself, but there is a RR bridge about 100 yds. downstream that I crossed to the other side for additional pictures. It's a little weedy around the north approach and some of the trestle is still in place which is another good spot to take photos of the deck.

Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.

Old River Bridge
Posted December 1, 2005, by Robert W. Scoggin (robert [dot] scoggin [at] arkansashighways [dot] com)

This bridge was used in the movie Slingblade, another Billy Bob Thornton movie.