US281 Brazos River Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Brazos River on southbound US 281
- Location
- Palo Pinto County, Texas
- Status
- Open to one-way southbound traffic after rehabilitation
- History
- Built 1939, Closed ca. 2016; reopened ca. 2019
- Builders
- - Bethlehem Steel Co. of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
- Brown & Root Inc. of Houston, Texas
- Design
- Polygonal Warren through truss with all verticals
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 252.0 ft.
Total length: 1,138.2 ft.
Deck width: 24.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.1 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1996
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +32.64139, -98.10028 (decimal degrees)
32°38'29" N, 98°06'01" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 14/584388/3611889 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Brazos East
- Elevation
- 780 ft. above sea level
- Average daily traffic (as of 2013)
- 3,520
- Inventory numbers
- TXNBI 021820025002018 (Texas bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
NRHP 96001126 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 33306 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of March 2017)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 42.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- February 4, 2022: New photo from Bambi Sharkoman
- October 20, 2021: Updated by Roger Deschner: bridge was reopened to southbound traffic ca. 2019
- November 13, 2016: Updated by Robert Elder: Bridge has been closed.
- April 11, 2015: Updated by Royce and Bobette Haley: Updated to Poly Warren all verts-continuous-added approaches
- February 23, 2014: Photo imported by Dave King
- January 4, 2012: Updated by Jason Straub: added NRHP info
Sources
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
- Jesse Sharkoman Berube - jesseberube5 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
i documented the rehabilitated bridge last month. they did a great job replicating the design the old bridge with a slight modern twist
Google Street View in 2021 shows southbound traffic on the rehabilitated bridge.
Talked with a spokesman for TxDOT who relayed that the old bridge is being rehabilitated with a new deck and paint and will re-open for south bound traffic in Spring of 2019.
I have been trying to find out. Texas has a great reputation for preservation, so I suspect that preservation of this NRHP listed structure is likely.
I drove across it a few times in past years, but I saw it today for the first time in a while. I was surprised to see the new bridge in place.
Are they gonna knock it down or preserve it for pedestrians
This bridge has been closed to traffic. The new bridge is open.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/tx/palo-pinto/21820025002018/
Thanks for sharing these great rehab photos of this beautiful historic bridge! TxDOT deserves to be thanked for saving this bridge. I tried to visit this in my 2019 Texas trip but it was still in containment for painting.