Road crews destroy Horse Creek Bridge in Afton despite local opposition

Work crews for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation apparently destroyed the historic Horse Creek Bridge in Afton in recent days despite substantial opposition from residents and preservationists.

A reader of Route 66 News in Oklahoma passed along a friend’s photos of the razed bridge. The image was taken from a recently constructed temporary bypass bridge.

The agency has stated the 1936 bridge that carried Route 66 needed to be replaced because it’s structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. But a number of Afton residents said last year the bridge won’t be destroyed without a fight.

“It’s unique because it has two pedestrian walkways protected by concrete guardrails,” Kenda Bynum said. “ODOT wants to replace it and of course the town doesn’t want to replace it. We want to keep it as is because of the historical significance. I think as word gets out we’ll get even more support.” […]
“We’re down here today trying to save the bridge. This is the last bridge connected to Route 66 that has the pedestrian walkway on each side. It is a very important piece of history. It is protected on the National Historical Registry and the State Registry,” Afton resident Cindy Todd said.
“I would like to see it repaired. I am sure, as with anything built in that era, it needs upkeep. We would like to see it repaired and refurbished and stay a part of this hometown. I grew up here and when we hit that bridge we knew we were home.”

But Kenna Mitchell, a spokeswoman for ODOT, said at the time public hearings were held in 2016 over the replacement of the bridge, and “we have to move ahead” with razing it and making a replacement.

The Miami News-Record previously reported ODOT also would document the bridge before it was removed.

I emailed Route 66 researcher Jim Ross about the bridge’s destruction. He replied:

This has been a long time coming. It was announced about a year ago, but was delayed. There was a lot of pushback from the consulting parties, most of whom refused to sign off on it, but ODOT went forward with the demolition anyway. It would have been a simple matter to bypass it, but it all came down to money. I see it as a huge setback to the progress I believed ODOT had made over the past few decades. 

The state of Oklahoma holds a terrible record in maintaining and preserving its bridges over the last 30 years. It shouldn’t have been surprising it wouldn’t preserve this one, either.

It also illustrates that a designation to the National Register of Historic Places — the Horse Creek Bridge was added to it in 1994 — offers little protection.

(Image of the Horse Creek Bridge in Afton, Oklahoma, by Abe Ezekowitz via Wikimedia Commons; an image of the destroyed Horse Creek Bridge by April Smith)

7 thoughts on “Road crews destroy Horse Creek Bridge in Afton despite local opposition

  1. As a foreigner, I would like to know what significance being on the National Register of Historic Places has. It seems to be nothing more than a list. As for demolishing something “because it’s structurally deficient and functionally obsolete”, what “functions” do many structures fulfil? Does the Statue of Liberty have a “function”? The historic Doric Arch that stood at the entrance to Euston railway station in London had no “function”, and was totally unnecessarily destroyed. Some would have said it had an anti-function; it was a throw-back to the early days of railways in the UK, with trains that had dirty steam engines pulling them – totally the ‘wrong image’ for the coming ‘electric age’. That was in 1961 when the current station was built. That one may now be pulled down in favour of yet another ‘Euston station’. In 1938 an American architect had drawn up plans for a new station then, but WWII put a stop to that happening.

  2. The Horse Creek Bridge was gone on 15th October when I came through there. Unfortunately due to traffic I couldn’t get a photo. As an alternative crossing has been put into place alongside, it’s difficult to see why the old bridge couldn’t have been left in place but closed to traffic.

  3. Lost forever. It’s bridges like this on Route 66 that make the Road such a draw for us in England. Sad that the IDOT didn’t recognize its importance. I travelled over that bridge in 2001, 2006 and 2012.

  4. From the previous comments, leaving it is place but closed to traffic would have made the ODOT liable if someone was injured or killed by either doing something stupid or if part of the bridge eventually fell and caused injury or death. Today’s risk-averse where-there’s-blame-there’s-a-claim attitude and no-fee lawyers have a lot to answer for.

  5. Ron, I know there have been a lot of bridges lost all along 66. Is it just my imagination, or does ODOT have the worst reputation for this, and other actions detrimental to state/national history like pouring gravel over the narrow section of 66 near Afton?

    1. Well, ODOT’s rep isn’t good, but no one state has clean hands.

      And the gravel on the Sidewalk Highway actually protects it until it finally undergoes restoration, so that’s not a good example of bad government.

  6. Ron – is that dry gravel spread over the deteriorating surface of the Sidewalk Highway? Or what in the UK is called “surface dressing”: dry chippings sprinkled over a layer of hot liquid tar or asphalt? Surface dressing was the norm on country roads in the UK before mechanical pavers laying ready mixed tar and chippings became the norm. And it was often dodgy for those on two wheels.

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