Now a Rogers County road, this bridge was built in 1910 by the Central States Bridge Co. Later, it served as a crossing for OK 88. It now sits idle. A new concrete bridge has been recently constructed next to it.
Below is the bridge viewed from the old road alignment. The tall main span is a pin-connected 10-panel Parker 209-feet long.
In the picture above David, our civil engineering expert, stands on the deck of the shorter span. This span is a 120' six-panel Camel-back, also pin-connected.
Below is a deck view of the Parker span. The guard rails have many damaged and repair sections. You can see the clear blue water of the Verdigris River in this photo also. The Oolagah dam is just a few river miles upstream of this bridge.
Above, a portal shot of the Parker span. We did check the endposts for evidence of a builders plaque, and found broken bolts and bolt holes.
Below, a picture of why the bridge is no longer in service. The picture is of one of the pinned connections, actually, it is the middle connection of the north truss in the Parker span. The heavy, horizontal eyebars are the lower chord. They are tension members. The vertical member is one of the posts. It is constructed of two channels laced together. It is a compression web member. The thin, diagonal eyebars are the primary tension web members. You'll notice in all of these photos, like the lower chord, that they are always in pairs. You can see that the left pair has a broken eyebar. Also note the repaired guard rail in that panel. Also note the cracked nut on the pin
pictured below is the Camel-back span from the side and the pier. Unlike most of these old bridges that used the concrete-filled steel piers, this one has a steel shear wall instead of struts and X-braces.
And finally, below is a side view of the Parker span. The location of the bridge and its setting are really quite impressive. The truss bridge, with its single, long span is a much more impressive crossing than the drab concrete bridge in the background.
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