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Poteau River Bridge

Le Flore County, Oklahoma

Photos 

Poteau River Bridge near Loving

This is actually a Petite Pennsylvania Truss

Photo taken by Gene McCluney in May 2007

Enlarge

BH Photo #128887

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Poteau River on N4812
Location
Le Flore County, Oklahoma
Status
Closed to traffic; Bypassed by new bridge
History
Built 1937
Builder
- Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania & Woodlawn, Pennsylvania (Iron/Steel Manufacturer)
Design
Pin-connected Pennsylvania through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 200.1 ft.
Total length: 202.1 ft.
Deck width: 13.5 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.5 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+34.87985, -94.48418   (decimal degrees)
34°52'47" N, 94°29'03" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/364363/3860723 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Bates
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
200
Inventory numbers
OKNBI 055060000000000 (Oklahoma bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 29224 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of December 2011)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 17.8 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1937 (839)
Built during 1930s (12,166)
Closed (2,760)
Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. (28)
Le Flore County, Oklahoma (72)
Oklahoma (2,031)
One-lane traffic (7,835)
Owned by county (21,607)
Pennsylvania truss (578)
 Pin-connected (4,694)
Poteau River (13)
Span length 175-250 feet (2,058)
Structurally deficient (12,885)
Through truss (16,775)
Total length 175-250 feet (4,476)
Truss (35,451)
Wooden deck (6,160)

Update Log 

  • January 24, 2010: New photo from Wayne Kizziar
  • January 18, 2010: Updated by Wayne Kizziar: Bridge is now closed. Future prospects uncertain.
  • December 2, 2008: New photo from Gene McCluney

Sources 

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Comments 

Poteau River Bridge
Posted April 17, 2013, by Justin Minor (justinminor [at] hotmail [dot] com)

As of 4/17/2013 the new bridge is built and in place some 150+ yards east of this bridge. This bridge is still standing and somebody (likely a local farmer) has torched the barricades off and it is being used to move farm equipment between pastures.

i don't know if it helps you to approximately date it or make-it, but the name "Jones and Laughlin" appears on the heavier bracing, and the stylized "illinois" stamp on the lighter-duty bracing. Thought it possible Some of you guys with a lot of bridge hunting/researching experience might be able to discern something from that.

Couldn't get any decent pictures, was a cold, rainy,dark day when I was out there.

Poteau River Bridge
Posted January 24, 2010, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This bridge is far older than 1937. Most pinned Pennsylvania trusses like this generally land somewhere in the 1895-1905 zone. I have seen one like this as late as 1914, but it was a little more massive. Otherwise, to find a pin-connected Pennsylvania newer than that you probably are seeing a very large long-spanning bridge. 1938 Tunnelton Bridge in Pennsylvania for example, although it has pin/rivet combination/hybrid connections. http://www.historicbridges.org/pennsylvania/tunnelton/index....

Poteau River Bridge
Posted January 24, 2010, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

I suspect that this bridge may be older than 1937. I would be surprised that a bridge this late would use pinned connections.

This bridge looks like it might possibly be a Kansas City Bridge Co. structure.