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Cimarron River Bridge

Payne County, Oklahoma
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Photos 

View from adjacent hillside

Photo taken by Gene McCluney in March 2009

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Map 

Essay 

Written by Gene McCluney

This beautiful Warren deck truss bridge was built in 1928 by The Pioneer Construction Company of Kansas City, Missouri, a operation owned by The Canton Bridge Company. It has been closed since 1978 when it was bypassed by a new bridge on a new alignment of OK 33. The bridge approaches are closed and gated a considerable distance back from the bridge and the approaches are now on private property. The paving of the old highway is still intact up to the bridge. At only 18 feet wide curb to curb by todays standards this is a wide single-lane bridge although considered 2-lanes in 1928. It would be difficult, if not impossible to pass with large modern trucks on this bridge. Other than the many damaged areas of guardrail, the bridge appears to be in good shape with a good concrete deck.

Facts 

Overview
Warren deck truss bridge over Cimmaron River on Old OK 33
Location
Payne County, Oklahoma
Status
Closed to all traffic
History
Built in 1928, replaced in 1978 by new bridge on new alignment.
Builders
- Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
- Pioneer Construction Co.
Design
Eight 100ft Warren Deck Truss spans, Two 30ft approach spans.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 860.0 ft.
Deck width: 18.0 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.99212, -96.91107   (decimal degrees)
35°59'32" N, 96°54'40" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
14/688302/3985092 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Tryon North
Inventory number
BH 42188 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1928 (822)
Built during 1920s (7,242)
Canton Bridge Co. (143)
Closed (2,133)
Deck truss (1,033)
NR-eligible (3,790)
Oklahoma (1,660)
 Payne County, Oklahoma (48)
Pioneer Construction Co. (25)
Span length 100-125 feet (3,370)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,881)
Truss (24,141)
Warren deck truss (369)
Warren truss (4,163)

Update Log 

  • February 2, 2011: Updated by Gene McCluney: Corrected spelling of waterway
  • February 10, 2010: New photos from John Cross
  • December 18, 2009: Updated by Gary Hines: revised map location
  • April 2, 2009: Updated by Gene McCluney: added data
  • April 1, 2009: Essay added by Gene McCluney

Sources 

  • Gene McCluney - gmacfilm [at] live [dot] com
  • Gary Hines - ghines [at] odot [dot] org
  • John Cross - jcross [at] cross-photography [dot] com
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Comments 

Cimmaron River Bridge
Posted April 19, 2009, by Wes Kinsler (wkinsler [at] wkinsler [dot] com)

Thanks Gene. The folks here might also be interested to know that this bridge used to cross the Santa Fe tracks at its east end. However, the line has been abandoned for a long time, with no tracks left.

Cimmaron River Bridge
Posted April 14, 2009, by Gene McCluney (mccluney [at] sbcglobal [dot] net)

I edited the essay to reflect your new information on 2-lane bridge widths in the 1920's.

Cimmaron River Bridge
Posted April 14, 2009, by Wes Kinsler (wkinsler [at] wkinsler [dot] com)

A very nice essay. It should be noted, however, that the standard widht of a two-lane paved highway, such as the one that this bridge originally served, was 18 feet, with a 9 foot lane for each direction. Quite a few bypassed old highway alignments exist in Oklahoma still paved in 18-foot wide Bates pavement, with matchingly narrow bridges.