Rating:
2 votes

Yale Avenue Bridge

Tulsa County, Oklahoma

Photo 

Bridge after collapse

Austin Hellwig Collection

Enlarge

View this photo at cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org

BH Photo #405894

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Lost Pratt pony truss bridge over Posey Creek on Yale Ave
Location
Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Status
Collapsed
History
Lost 1981 following (overweight?) earthmover crossing the bridge
Design
5-panel, pinned Pratt pony truss
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.96221, -95.92234   (decimal degrees)
35°57'44" N, 95°55'20" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/236455/3983706 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Bixby
Inventory number
BH 49296 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Collapsed (390)
Lost (24,725)
Lost 1981 (90)
Lost during 1980s (1,370)
Oklahoma (2,003)
Pony truss (16,182)
 Pratt pony truss (3,637)
Pratt truss (9,295)
Truss (32,778)
Tulsa County, Oklahoma (68)
Tulsa, Oklahoma (28)

Update Log 

  • October 13, 2019: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added truss type
  • October 13, 2019: Updated by Luke: GPS fix per forum comment
  • October 13, 2017: New photo from J Lance
  • August 5, 2011: Added by David Backlin

Sources 

  • David Backlin - us71 [at] cox [dot] net
  • J Lance - bugo [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Luke
  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
Post a comment here

Comments 

Posey Creek-Yale Ave. Bridge
Posted October 13, 2019, by Melissa Brand-Welch (melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com)

Y'all having fun without me ??? In all seriousness, I could not find an article to add 🙁

Posey Creek-Yale Ave. Bridge
Posted October 13, 2019, by Mike Kerkau (mjkerkau [at] gmail [dot] com)

Might not have to. The "View this photo" link tells the story:

"The Posey Creek bridge on Yale Avenue carried its last vehicle in the fall of 1981, as an earthmover crossed the bridge and caused it to collapse. By July 1982, the steel truss had been removed, but the concrete from the bridge deck had fallen into the creek and formed a small low-water dam. Several trees were removed on the east side of Yale Avenue to allow access for removing the steel truss. Photograph taken January 1, 1982."

I can only assume the earthmover was well over the weight limit?

Posey Creek-Yale Ave. Bridge
Posted October 13, 2019, by Luke

Fixed the GPS. Tony fixed the truss type. Melissa will find contemporary news articles on the collapse in 3... 2... 1...

Posey Creek Bridge
Posted October 13, 2019, by Austin Hellwig (the_hellwigfamily [at] att [dot] net)

You need to update the location map, as it shows the bridge on Kimberly Clark Place (the new roadway built from S.H. 67 to 131st Street when the Kimberly-Clark Plant opened). That roadway did not exist when this photo was taken. This bridge was located on Yale Avenue at Posey Creek.

Posey Creek Bridge
Posted January 4, 2019, by AUSTIN HELLWIG (THE_HELLWIGFAMILY [at] ATT [dot] NET)

This bridge actually was on Yale Avenue near 138th Street (138th and Sheridan, essentially, would be in the Arkansas River). The bridge reopened in 1986 following a rerouting of the creek to the north of the embankment and construction of a new roadway on that grade. The bridge is open today, but Yale Avenue ends a few blocks north at the Kimberly-Clark plant.

Posey Creek Bridge
Posted January 4, 2019, by AUSTIN HELLWIG (THE_HELLWIGFAMILY [at] ATT [dot] NET)

This bridge actually was on Yale Avenue near 138th Street (138th and Sheridan, essentially, would be in the Arkansas River). The bridge reopened in 1986 following a rerouting of the creek to the north of the embankment and construction of a new roadway on that grade. The bridge is open today, but Yale Avenue ends a few blocks north at the Kimberly-Clark plant.

Posey Creek Bridge
Posted March 23, 2013, by George Crabtree (mowerhouse [at] cox [dot] net)

The bridge was at about 138th and Sheridan Rd. at the bottom of a steep hill. They rerouted the road and posey creek when they built Kimberley Clark. Me and my buddies road bicycles across it long before they ever built Sandusky Ave. Which was built for Semi's and Delivery trucks for Kimberley Clark. I lived across 151st St. north of the Cemetery about a 1/4 mi. west of Sheridan Rd. from 1957 until the state widened the highway.